Fate of Remnants Past
by CollaredBlock4
Summary: Decades have past since the last Grail War occurred. Kingdoms have fallen and movements have risen, but still the grail stays silent. But a stage has been set worthy for the Grail. Old and young fight for the survival of humanity, and the outcome will determine the future of Remnant. This is the Holy Grail War.
1. Chapter 1: A New War

Chapter 1: A New War

 _2 weeks after The Breach_

Cardin sighed, stretching his arms as he worked out the kinks in his back. He had gone to the library at Beacon to work on his studies for Professor Oobleck's history class and he had been making some solid progress on the current unit they were in. Eventually the words in the textbook started to merge together and he realized that he had been staring at the same page for the past ten minutes.

'Damn, and I was close to remembering the name of the adventurer in the myths of Gale too,' Cardin thought as he took another look at the page.

"Do you need some help?"

Cardin turned to the source of the voice slowly, his head still a bit foggy with boredom. Velvet Scarlatina, rabbit faunus and second year student. Also, a former target of his bullying. Shaking his sluggish head, he nodded and gestured to the seat next to him.

"Yeah, I've been stuck on this assignment for the past ten minutes."

"Which one?" Velvet asked as she took the offered seat and looked over at his textbook.

"Some story about a shapeshifter or something from Mistral. I got all the way to the part about the Grimm lair and that's when I lost focus." Looking up from the page, Velvet scoffed and gave him an unbelieving glance from the corner of her eye.

"Really? You lost interest at the most exciting part of the story?" Cardin held up his hands.

"What? You would've been bored too, if you constantly read about Elias, son of Thomas, son of Martin, bodyguard of Count Claur, descendant of one the 500 Companions and yada-yada." He coughed into his hand motioned towards the book.

"Anyway, back on topic." Turning her attention back towards the book she began scouring the page for information to help her impromptu lesson with Cardin. Looking at the determined expression on her face, Cardin let his mind wander back to the incident that had indirectly lead to this encounter.

The incident two weeks ago, during what many had referred to as 'The Breach'.

* * *

 _Half-hour after The Breach_

"Damn."

Cardin grunted as he blocked another strike from the beowolf in front. The beowolf was a matured Grimm, easily larger than the ones encountered in the Forever Fall Forest, and much more heavily plated, with plates on its arms and hind legs. It moved a few steps backwards and dropped to all fours, but kept its distance from Cardin and began to move in a slow circle around him. Cardin took that time to regain his composure and took a deep breath.

'This wasn't how I expected this day to go,' he thought. His team was taking advantage of a free day from classes and studying when the sirens went off in Vale. They managed to get a Bullhead to Vale, and they started to guide and protect the citizens to shelter when a horde of Grimm split them off. Now, after moving through the city for eight minutes, he was in no better position than before.

'Alright, got to think. Mature Grimm are obviously older and more experienced, so I should take it slowly and test its attack.' He took a moment to study the plates covering its body.

'But those plates are going to be more of a problem. They look like they could stop my mace for a hit or two, and if that happens it can hit me pretty badly. If the rest of the city is looking like this, I'll need as much as Aura as I can spare.' Grimacing, he readied his mace and took up a ready stance.

'Which means I'll just have hope I can end this quickly.' Taking a moment to choose his course of action, Cardin raised his mace high over his head with one hand and sent it down towards the ground, activating its fire crystal and causing the street in front of him to crack violently and explode outward. The beowolf leaped out of the way and made a move for Cardin's side.

Cardin brought up his mace and move it to his side, bracing himself for the attack. The beowolf's claws struck the mace, the shock wave moving Cardin in the opposite direction a few feet. Luckily for him, he managed to stay on his feet and made a quick jab with the tip of his mace, the fire crystal activating once again and a spout of flame shot out, burning the torso and right shoulder of the beowolf, which howled in pain and once again made a dash towards Cardin.

Cardin knew that he wouldn't be able to block it in time and instead readied himself for a hard impact. The beowolf plowed into him with its uninjured shoulder, sending Cardin flying into one of the many buildings that lined both sides of the street. He groaned as he picked himself back up, thankful that his armor softened the blow somewhat, and took a glance at the beowolf.

It's quick dash against him seemed to be a solitary act of revenge, as the beowolf was now panting heavily and acting more instinctually than before. It was looking all around itself and was favoring its uninjured side, and if Cardin had to wager, it's mind was getting clouded by heat and pain the flames had given it.

'This is my chance, I can end this now!' He thought. Shaking his head clear, he rushed towards the Grimm, raising his mace and brought it down towards the Grimm's head. It reacted to his charge, but could only manage to feebly raise it's left, unburnt arm, which broke with a sickening crunch as Cardin's mace broke the bones. Cardin raised his mace to his side and made a well practiced swing towards its head. He heard a satisfying crack as his mace broke the Grimm's mask into multiple pieces and its head into a mushed mess.

"Finally.." he muttered, and he turned away from the Grimm towards the direction his team last was. The Grimm horde had moved on from the area, and some buildings had fallen over and formed a crude barricade between him and it, as well as blocking off his path back toward his team.

Sighing, he turned towards the opposite direction and began moving down the street, taking care to avoid the numerous corpses that littered the streets, all of which were in various states of damage. Cardin barely managed to subdue his gut reaction of vomiting, the prospect of attracting more Grimm from the action and subsequent emotions enough of a deterrent to quell the urge. Closing his eyes, he inhaled deeply, and tried to recall all of the advice and training he had learned that would help keep his emotions in check, and opened his eyes.

He slowed his pace as to not upset his stomach and kept both his gaze, and his mind, focused ahead of him. The stench from the partially eaten bodies was horrible, and reminded him of memories he had from trips to the family ranch in the farming district near Vale, and of the dead animals he would find, caused either from other animals or even from himself protecting the cattle.

To his right, he saw the body of faunus woman, her leg chewed off and multiple deep gashes crossing her body. Behind him, a human man with both of his arms missing, probably thrown if the the singular limb across the street was any indication, and his head mangled beyond recognition. In front of him, he saw an overturned stroller on its side, with a pool of blood covering the area around it.

'Shit, shit shit.' Cardin began to pick-up his pace and a minute later he managed to find an area of the city that wasn't totally covered in blood and corpses. He moved down the street, sticking to the sidewalk, when he spotted a sight worse than the Grimm he fought a few minutes prior.

"Oh fuck me," he whispered to himself. An alpha Grimm was in the middle of street, about one hundred feet away with its back to him. Immediately, he took cover behind a nearby car, and scouted out the area. The way forward led towards an intersection, the way behind was still an option but there was almost nothing to hide behind should the alpha look in that direction.

To his right was a stretch of buildings, most of them sporting broken windows or demolished sections of walls, and Cardin had an idea of what happened to the occupants inside. And to his left was a similar image, although the building closest to him, a cafe that he had visited once or twice that semester, he remembered quietly, was relatively intact, with only broken windows and a destroyed door being the noticeable damage. There was also…..

Crap.

Two people, one an adult and one a small child, if not a toddler. The adult was a female cat faunus, with two ears and a tail, wearing a long sleeved shirt with multiple cuts along it, and jeans. The child was a human boy, wearing simple shorts and a t-shirt, and both were hiding behind the bar counter near the broken window closest to Cardin. The woman noticed him and her eyes widened, with a small look of relief appearing on her face as she noticed his armor and mace.

Cardin shook his head from the shock he got from the surprise, and motioned to the woman to be quiet and keep low. She nodded and brought the child down further below the counter. Cardin sighed and took a look back towards the alpha, and was a little glad that it had moved further away from him during the time he looked around. Looking back towards the couple, he moved a little closer towards them before motioning them to slowly moved closer towards the broken window.

Once they were almost over the boundary of the former window pane, Cardin decided to risk verbal instructions.

"Hey, can you hear me alright?" he whispered to the woman.

"Y-yeah. Thank God you're here, I thought we would've died in there. You have to get us out!" the woman whispered with increasing urgency.

"Hey, keep calm and try to keep your voice down, ok? If you keep going on like this, it'll sense your fear, and then we'll _all_ be dead, alright?" The woman nodded, and Cardin took another glance at the Grimm. It hadn't moved any further, he noted sourly, but it was preoccupied with a mostly intact body it had found. Cardin turned back to the woman.

"Ok, that Grimm over there is busy at the moment, so if we can get you out of there we should be able to get to the evac center without much trouble if we play it slow. You know the way to St. Phidiusos' Church?"

"Yeah, it's about two blocks away, on the corner of Thomas and Chestnut."

"Good, I can get you all the way to Theodore Avenue and if the militia did their job right then you should be fine the rest of the way there."

"Wait, you're going to leave us out there by ourselves?"

Cardin gave a soft scoff.

"Trust me, that entire street should be covered in Grimm bodies, you'll be fine. And if they're all dead, there isn't much I'll be able to do except bleed on them. Besides, I have to find the rest of my team and find anyone else I can save."

"You really think you'll find anyone else?" She said with a slight tone of disbelief.

"I found you, didn't I?" She remained quiet at that. Cardin took a look at the area around the window. Shards of glass littered the area outside the window, but it seems most of them went inside, as if something crashed into the cafe.

"Do you have anything that you can put over these shards? I don't want us to be noticed because we couldn't stop the noise of some glass."

"Hold on, there's some towels for large spills around here somewhere," the woman said as she left the boy and went down the bar looking for the towels. Cardin looked at the boy, who he now noticed had red eyes and a small amount of blood on him, although he couldn't see any wounds on the boy.

Cardin gave him a small smile and the boy wiped his eyes and gave a timid smile back, but then turned his attention back to the woman as she made her way back, a large towel in her hands. She threw one end of the towel to Cardin, who grabbed it and gently put it over the shards and ever so gently, stood up slightly and put his foot on a single shard.

He winced at the sound it made, but when he turned his attention towards the Grimm, it showed no sign of noticing the sound and kept on with its meal. Cardin felt a twinge of shock as he noticed that the corpse was already almost completely eaten, his conversation with the woman being only half a minute long.

Taking one last look at the Grimm to make sure it wouldn't notice them, he held his hand up, but then beckoned them forward. The woman took the first hesitant step, but when the alpha showed no signs of noticing them, she grabbed the boy and quickly made her way over to Cardin. He took another glance, and sighed with relief as the alpha remained the same.

"Alright, let's not run until we round the corner," he said and they slowly started walking towards the corner. They would've made it too, if it wasn't for the nearby apartment wall falling to the street. Cardin froze, and as he twisted around he could see the alpha turn its head at the noise, and then it gave a low growl as it noticed them.

"Start running. Now!" Cardin shouted, and the woman eagerly complied, still carrying the child. As he turned to run with her he could finally see what type of Grimm it was. An Alpha Beowolf, it was similar in size to the mature beowolf he fought earlier, but slightly larger, and with multiple segments of bone plates covering all of its body as well as having bony ridges across its spine.

Cardin easily managed to outpace the woman and child, but as he took a look behind him he could see the alpha gaining ground on them, fast. They should be able round the corner before it could and probably find a hiding spot, but he doubted that it would save them. He was broken from his train of thought when he heard a scream and the sound of a crashing wall. The woman and child were both on the ground, and although they were unharmed the woman looked as if she sprained her ankle and the falling rubble had created a thin layer of dust, causing both the woman and child to cough.

They won't make it. He knew that. Even if the the woman could somehow grab the child and see through the dust, her sprained ankle would keep her from running and at the current speed of the Grimm, it would reach them in the next ten seconds or so.

No-one would know if he left them. The alpha would definitely kill them and if he left right now, would more than likely give up the chase and focus on eating their bodies. That would easily give him time to put distance between them to throw off his took another look at them, on the ground and he could see the fear in their eyes as they noticed the Grimm.

"Shit," he murmured under his breath. He couldn't leave them. No, that was wrong. He _wouldn't_ leave them. It didn't matter if one of them was a faunus, or that he would be better off if he just sacrificed them. He was a huntsman, or at least one in training, and he'd be damned if he left them to die.

'How would I live with myself if I knew I left them?' He thought. He turned around to face the alpha and readied his mace. Giving out a yell he rushed towards the alpha. The beowolf saw him approaching and attempted to slow down, but its momentum was too great and it only managed to raise a plated arm as Cardin's mace smashed into it, the fire crystal active.

The plate covering its right forearm shattered, and the upper arm plate cracked from the combined force and heat of the impact, but the rest of the arm remained mostly unharmed. Cardin jumped back a second after the hit connected but he was hit square in the stomach from the beowolf's left arm. He went flying into a nearby wall, and he could feel a sharp pain in his skull.

"Damn, that hit took out that much aura?" He cursed. He gained a little bit of comfort as the pain slowly subsided, telling him that he still had a little aura left. He charged at the Grimm again before it could focus its attention on the pair and he fired off two random shots with his fire crystal. The first shot connected unobstructed into the Grimm's back, burning the bone plate and even managing to crack a few of them in half.

The alpha roared and turned around in time to block the second shot with its shoulder, the plate staying strong and only the surrounding fur being singed by the blast, but it was still knocked back a step. Cardin rushed at it and swung wide with his mace, the training he instilled in himself coming to bear. The mace connected with the left side of the Grimms face, but the mask refused to break and instead a thin fracture line appeared, spreading across the mask.

The Grimm didn't roar, but instead viewed Cardin with what he could only describe as a look of… understanding? Respect? No, that wasn't it. Could they even feel any emotions besides anger? Cardin shook the distracting thoughts from his head and was caught by surprise by the arm the connected with his chestplate and sent him a few feet onto the street. The Grimm moved towards him and raised its claw to strike him.

"Cardin, watch out!" Cardin's eyes widened at the new sound, but he turned himself onto his side and shielded his face as he felt a blast of wind and an explosion near his body. Getting on his feet and turning around he saw that the area in front of him was covered in small flames and the beowolf was panting heavily. Its torso was heavily scorched and its entire right arm was burnt to a crisp, if the smoke rising from it was any indication.

However Cardin realized the new problem. The Grimm started running again- but not at Cardin. Instead it started running towards the woman and child. Acting on instinct, he ran towards the pair and threw himself before them. He felt a burning pain entered his abdomen, and he was vaguely aware of the screaming happening right behind him. The Grimm's left arm had pierced straight through the left side of his abdomen, and Cardin could feel the blood flow from the wound.

He also knew, that at this moment the Grimm was vulnerable to an attack.

Its right arm was unable to defend against an attack and with its left arm stuck in him, he had a free shot at taking it out. Struggling to raise his right arm, he took a look at the Grimm's mask. It had a thin fracture before, but the blast must've damaged it further, as the fracture line was now much wider and looked as if it was on the verge of collapse. He took a mighty swing with his mace and activated the fire crystal at the tip.

He was awarded with the entire mask shattering into pieces and the immediate area of the face being burnt to ash, with the rest of the head flying off to the left of him. He ripped the arm free of him and walked back a few steps before falling down on the ground, a pool of blood forming around him.

"Cardin? Oh my God, you're bleeding!" Cardin looked over from the corner of his eye. Velvet? What was she doing here? She should be at the church.

'Must've been the fighting. It had to be,' He thought, as a thick fog grew over his mind.

"Don't worry Cardin, you'll make it out of this. I promise," Velvet said.

'Huh, first Arc, now her. The world sure is strange,' he thought as his vision went dark.

* * *

 _Two weeks after The Breach._

"Hey, are you listening?"

Cardin blinked, lost in his own thoughts. Velvet was looking at him, a slightly annoyed expression on her face.

"Wha- Of course I'm listening. Honest," Cardin said quickly, feeling slightly abashed from being caught in his daydream.

"Mh-hm. So that's why you were looking off into space for the past five minutes, right?" Velvet said, sarcasm lacing her voice. Cardin sighed, closing his eyes and running his hands through his hair.

"I was just thinking, is all." Velvet gave him a curious look.

"What about?"

"Just about the, uh, breach, is all." Velvet gave him a concerned look.

"Is your wound still giving you trouble? I thought the doctor's cleared you," Velvet said, putting a hand on his shoulder and trying to examine the stomach wound he got from the alpha. Calmly, he gently moved her hands away from his sides and held up a single hand.

"It's ok, it hasn't bothered me much since I got out. Just a few aches in the middle of the night, not much else. Can we get back to studying for now?" he asked motioning back to the book, a slight twinge of desperation lacing his voice. Velvet gave him a concerned glance before she hesitantly turned her attention back towards the book.

"If you say so…" she trailed off and resumed where they'd left off. They sat and studied over the material, Velvet explaining certain aspects of the tales. Eventually they took a break and Cardin mused on a thought that had crossed his mind.

"Hey, do you know when Team RWBY is coming back? I haven't seen Red in a while," Cardin spoke, hoping it sounded like a casual question. It wouldn't do to have people know that he was somewhat worried about the fellow team. He'd been trying to repair his school image, but that didn't mean he liked to lose his tough guy persona anytime soon.

"Red?" Cardin decided to take a keen interest in the cuffs of his uniform, but even still, he could hear the smirk in Velvet's voice. Warmth filled his cheeks in embarrassment as he attempted to keep his cool.

"Yeah, Red, y'know. 'Cause she wears.. red. And stuff."

"Well, from what the I've heard they went to the Schnee family manor in Atlas, probably for for family business. They left about 4 days ago, but they should be coming back tonight, if they aren't here already," she gave Cardin a smile before continuing.

"But I'm sure Ruby will be happy to hear that you care. As will the rest of her team, I imagine. _Especially_ Yang," she finished. Cardin sighed, getting used to the teasing.

"It's not like that and you know it. I just heard they got some of the worst of the fighting during the Breach. I see Red in my weapons class, and I was worried that something might have happened, is all," Velvet gave him another small smile.

"Honestly though, I'm sure she'd appreciate the thought." With that said they got back to the lesson. Time passed, and eventually they decided to end the lesson and instead talked about other things for awhile. Velvet checked her watch and nodded before looking back at Cardin.

"It's almost curfew, and the library should be closing in a few minutes. You think we should leave?" Velvet asked.

"I'll put the book back, and then I'll head back to my room. See you whenever," Cardin said as he moved out of the chair and towards the back of the library.

"I'll be out in a few minutes, so I'll see you later," came the soft reply. Cardin went on towards the back of the library, tall shelves of books of varying age stacked around him. Minutes passed, and he cursed the the sorting system of the library as he thumbed through the shelves in a vain attempt to find the book's proper spot.

"How the hell did I forget where I found this book? I swear it was right here.."

"Need help?" Cardin whirled around at the unexpected voice and found himself facing the source. What he saw didn't put him off edge either. He was facing a woman, probably in her 30's, standing at 5'7". She wore a sleeved tunic with pants, leather boots and pauldrons being her only visible armor. A hood was pulled down and let her ponytailed white hair move unrestricted, her clothing an ice blue. But what caught Cardin's attention was the 6 ft spear casually propped against her.

"Well? You gonna answer me kid?" The woman spoke again, light blue eyes burrowing into his.

Cardin backed up slowly towards the open space in between the rows of shelves.

"N-no, I'm fine, I was just leaving," He spoke nervously, his mind frantically looking for anything that could give him a headstart on his escape. The woman cocked her head slightly and a mischievous smirk appeared on her face.

"Oh? But you haven't returned your book yet, have you? It wouldn't do to steal school property," she said, moving calmly towards him. Cardin picked up his pace slightly and found himself in the hall, his eyes never leaving the woman. The woman gripped her spear and brought it to a battle ready stance, poised to thrust at him. She stopped, and looked off to the side slightly, and then huffed in disappointment.

"Sorry kid, but it looks like I don't have any more time to chat. Sorry it had to be this way," she gave him what he thought could be an apologetic smile before thrusting her spear towards him. Cardin cursed, holding the book up in front of him and instinctively moving to his side.

He wasn't fast enough apparently, if the pain in his shoulder was any indication. Cursing, he dropped the book and clutched at his arm, and was surprised to find blood coating his hand.

 _My aura didn't block it? I barely saw her move! What the hell is she?_ Cardin was starting to panic, and he could feel his heart rate pick-up. He staggered back, clutching his shoulder and started to look for anything that could help. He spotted a door to his left, if he was lucky it would connect to an office or passageway to another section of the school. Now, he just needed a distraction..

The shelf! if he could bring it down he could make a break for the door. He took a breath and brought his now bloody hand away from his shoulder, and prepared himself to start his plan. The spearwoman grunted softly, and small amount of respect filled her eyes.

"You're pretty brave, or pretty stupid to stand your ground against me, boy. But, I admit I admire those who confront their challenges head-on. I'll give you a quick death," she brought her spear up for another strike.

Yelling, Cardin grabbed the nearest book on the shelf and gave a mighty throw towards his assailant. Her eyes widened slightly and the spear seemingly instantaneously cut the book in two. She stared at the remains of the book, taken aback by the abruptness and of the attack.

"A book? That's a new one kid," she brought her eyes back up in time for the bookshelf to fall upon her. Cardin grabbed another book, this one a few inches thick, and made a mad dash towards the door. Not taking any chances with a lock, he slammed his shoulder into the door frame, reinforcing it with aura and causing the door to break open. The door opened up into a narrow concrete hallway, heading in two different directions. Choosing randomly, he went right and ran down the hall. Glancing back he saw a blur of white enter the hall, and then a spear heading straight towards him. He twisted around holding the book in front of him and reinforced it with whatever aura he could gather.

The book squealed under the strain of the spearpoint, before breaking entirely a second later and shattering into pieces. Cardin was propelled back from the force and grunted as he hit his head on the concrete floor. He backed up as the spearwoman lowered her spear towards the ground, face covered by a mask of indifference.

"Clever trick, boy. Using a bookshelf to catch me off guard and then filling an object with aura as a makeshift shield. Not many would come up with a plan like that on the fly," her voice remaining neutral. She took another once over of him.

"But unfortunately for you, my spear is made of much stronger than stuff than anything you could find here. It does seem likely you would've been the 5th Master, but it seems like-" her voice broke off abruptly as she looked off into the distance around her again, as if listening to something only she could hear. Cardin wasted no time in running again, and looked for another exit. Only a few feet behind him, he slammed through the door and shut it, before looking for anything to block the doorway.

Spotting a short cabinet, he pushed it in front of the door before he took a more detailed look of the room. It had four walls, with no doors or exits anywhere in sight.

 _There goes my escape plan. I doubt that cabinet's going to stop her for even a minute. This just keeps getting better and better._ Cardin sighed as he scanned the room. In the center was a large red circle filled with an intricate pattern, and at the center were some black and white shards. Probably from a sword, if Cardin had to wager. The other thing that got his attention was the small note placed right next to the shards. Walking towards the center of the circle and bending down, he picked up the note and read it.

 _To whomever finds this room, the proper materials for the summoning are in place. I implore you you to use the catalyst already located in the center of the summoning circle; the hero that it corresponds to is of a trustworthy and powerful caliber, and will defend you to his last. The chant for the summoning isn't included in this note, but if you require even that much than perhaps you shouldn't be a part of this war. Either way, good luck, and may you survive the trials ahead._

Cardin looked at the note in confusion.

 _War? They talking about the Great War? And hero? How long has this room been here, and who left it here? I wonder_ \- Cardin's thoughts were interrupted by the door smashing open and the deadly woman from before blocking the door frame.

"You're a slippery one, I'll give you that. But now I really have to get on my way; you made my master angry by holding back my schedule you see and I'd rather not infuriate my master further. Goodbye, child," she spoke the last part softly, as if she regretted what she was doing, and once again raised her spear for a final thrust.

"Screw this, I won't die here to someone I don't even know. There's still things I have to do, people I have to make up to. I won't die to like this!" Shouting, Cardin didn't notice the circle beneath him glowing, nor the figure that appeared behind him. The woman raised her spear….

But instead of delivering the final blow, she raised it to block an incoming attack.

"The fifth Servant?!" Grunting, she was propelled back into the hall, smoke and debris flying into the hall. Cardin didn't notice though, instead staring at his unexpected savior. White hair and tan skin greeted him.

Gray eyes met lavender, and the figure spoke.

"I ask of you, are you my master?"

* * *

A/N: Hey there peoples of , I'm Collaredblock4 and this is my first story. I appreciate any reviews or criticisms of the story, grammar, etc. I'll try to update when I can, but don't expect a general consistency for the time being. I'll probably post more on the next Author's Note, but in the meantime have a nice day.


	2. Chapter 2: The Second Servant

_11 days after The Breach, above Atlas_

Weiss Schnee was bored. Unquestionably, there was some nervousness at the upcoming situation she would have to face, some exasperation at the antics of her teammates, and, of course, the anxiousness one gets from expecting anything, but she was mostly. Just. Bored. She stared past the window of the private jet heading towards Atlas, her mind lost in other matters.

 _I'm going to have to speak to father,_ Weiss thought miserably. It's not that she hated her father, far from it, but she went to Beacon to start making her own decisions. _It hasn't even been a whole year yet and I'm already going back._ Weiss sighed and closed her eyes, reclining in her seat and attempted to calm herself. _At the very least I'll see Winter again._ Weiss smiled at the memory of her sister, and she felt her anxiety lessen slightly.

"Watcha doing Weiss? Excited to be back in Atlas? Eh?" Weiss looked over at the voice of her team leader and partner, who looked to be restraining herself from dashing across the jet. She gave a small smile at the sight of Ruby trying her best to be calm.

"I am a little glad to be home. I like Vale, but it doesn't have the same feeling as Atlas, you know?" She gave a small huff as her thoughts from before caught up to her.

"Though I don't exactly relish visiting my father this soon," she added. Ruby frowned slightly, and thought about ways to try and cheer Weiss up.

"Don't you have any siblings? Oh! What about your mom? You should think about meeting them," Ruby exclaimed. Weiss sighed at the younger girl's enthusiasm, but her probing made her think.

 _Well… it would be nice to see Winter again. And mother wasn't...against my decision, per se._ Weiss returned her attention towards Ruby.

"Well, I _do_ have an older sister I haven't seen in awhile," Weiss trailed off. She loved her sister dearly, but she felt a bit embarrassed mentioning her sister. Not many people would think she had a good relationship with her sister, but to be frank, if she ever talked about her sister she would start gushing over her sister. Her face morphed into an expression of horror as Ruby increasingly got more excited.

"Weissweissweiss! You have a sister! Is she like Yang or Blake, or did you guys not have a good time together,

becauseyousaidyoualwayswantedbunkbedsandifyoulikeeachotherthenwhywouldn'tyouhaveabunkbedand-"

"Ruby! Calm down, you're going to cover the entire plane in rose petals at this rate," Weiss said forcefully. Ruby stopped herself and looked around. True enough, the plane seats and aisle were covered in small piles of rose petals. Heat rising to her face, she looked down at her feet and apologized.

"Sorry about that Weiss," but then Ruby looked back at Weiss, excitement in her eyes.

"But you have a sister! Why haven't you mentioned a sister yet? That's so cool!" Weiss took a second to think about her answer, before deciding to tell Ruby the truth.

"My family is something of a sore spot, as you remember. But my sister didn't try to stop me from going to Beacon, even if she didn't like that I was leaving. So, we were still close when I left and I wanted to prove that I could succeed without anyone's help, so I just never mentioned her."

"If she's older than you, then what does she do? Is she a huntress or does she work at your dad's company?"

"She's part of the Atlesian Special Operatives Program. They're…. sort of like huntsmen. Ruby, you have to understand that Atlas isn't like Vale. The military, government and academy are essentially the same thing." Ruby's face had a confused look on it.

"Aren't huntsmen supposed to be independent? Like even though Yang and I are from Vale, we can't fight for Vale in war and stuff?"

"They're _supposed_ to be neutral, but nobody is willing to risk provoking another war by saying anything," Ruby's face looked a bit troubled at this new information, but she said nothing as she processed it. Weiss took another look through the window, and seeing the approaching skyline of Atlas, got up from her seat.

"We're almost there. Come on, let's go find Yang and Blake," motioning for Ruby to follow her she, she walked down through the aisle to the back of the plane. Blake had wanted to be alone to read her books in peace and Yang had gone to the very small exercise room in the back of the plane to keep herself occupied. Weiss didn't blame her, the almost day long ride having left her bored for most of the trip.

As she opened the door to the other half of the plane, she noticed how the plane seemed smaller than usual.

 _Odd, father usually uses larger jets to fly guests and family members around. Why would change now?_ Shaking her head, Weiss moved towards the back of the plane and spotted Blake off near a window seat. Nodding in greeting, she walked over to Blake as Ruby went towards the exercise room to get Yang.

"We're about to land, so get ready for a quick exit," Blake's eyes met Weiss's with a curious look as she shut her book.

"Expecting trouble?" She inquired. Weiss gave a small shrug.

"No, but it never hurts to be prepared. There's at least the White Fang and other companies who would love to get their hands on the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company and her team, if not outright kill them," Weiss stated matter-of-factly. Even with her criminal history, Blake was a little taken aback by Weiss's casual demeanor about her safety. They both heard Yang and Ruby conversing through the thing door and as they both entered the pilot spoke over the intercom, telling them their flight was about to land.

Weiss took that as her cue to lead them to the cockpit, and beckoned them to follow her. As she turned around, she took one last look at her bandaged right hand. The strange markings had appeared the day after the Breach, and she spent the time resting in the hospital ward looking for any trace of information on them; their design, history, significance, anything. Her searches had been fruitless, however.

Looking ahead she hoped the flimsy excuse she and Ruby had come up with. The bandages on both of her hands and both of Ruby's hands were from a baking accident the day before they arrived, which actually had occurred, and they were simply letting their auras rest instead of healing them right away. Hopefully her family wouldn't pester either of them for more answers.

As the plane touched down on the tarmac, Weiss felt her anxiety come back and tried to calm herself down. Making the rest of any last minute adjustments, she straightened herself and walked down the airstairs, she spotted a long limousine, and standing halfway in between the end of the stairs and the limo was a figure in white. Weiss let a small gasp, and a smile crossed her face. The figure was her sister, Winter.

"Who's that?" Weiss heard Yang not-so-quietly whisper to her sister.

"I think that's Weiss's sister." Weiss ignored them, and as soon she was off the stairs ran towards her sister.

"Winter! I didn't think you would be here," despite herself, Weiss couldn't stop herself from all but tackling her sister. Winter gave her a warm smile, and put her hand on Weiss's shoulder.

"Weiss, it's good to see you. Tell me, how are your studies going? Are you making friends? Are you enjoying yourself?" Winter questioned. Weiss put on a smug smile as she prepared her answers.

"You'll be happy to know that I'm in the top rankings of our sparring class and that I've been getting straig-" Weiss was cut off by a firm smack on her head. Weiss looked at Winter in shock as the elder sister sighed.

"I asked how you were _doing_ Weiss. It seems everything's still about rankings and results." Winter sounded somewhat annoyed, but regained her composure and motioned her hand towards the limo.

"Welcome to Atlas, team RWBY. My father wishes to meet you all as soon as possible, so if you would please step into the vehicle." The rest RWBY entered the car, Weiss putting and Yang snickering the heiress's reaction. The car ride was fairly short, and the small amount of tension at Winter's actions being cleared quickly as the Vale team looked around Atlas.

Blake looked around at the crisp and uniform buildings and streets. Unlike the fairly casual and laid-back attitude of Vale, Atlas's citizens were dressed in formal attire; suits, dresses and the like. No one seemed to bat an eye at the amount of policemen covering the streets, of which many seemed to be essentially MPs. Blake knew about the hardships the White Fang had with trying to operate near Vale, and their security had been much more relaxed than Atlas.

She shuddered slightly at what could've happened to her if she was caught in Atlas during her time in the Fang.

 _Does Adam really think he can here? These people look ready to fight off an entire invasion force._ Breaking off her new depressing line of thought, she made small talk with Winter and Weiss as Yang and Ruby started arguing over the benefits Atlas would have in the new version of Remnant: The Game.

After a few minutes they came upon the wealthy section of Atlas, filled with large mansions and huge estates. Ruby and Yang had their faces stuck to the window and even Blake had to admit she was impressed by their size. Weiss's face had a satisfied smirk at their reactions. Yang turned to Weiss, her eyes still wide with amazement.

"Wow, Ice Queen. I didn't know your family lived here. What, was your family nobility or something?" Weiss's smirk got even bigger as she heard Yang's comment.

"Well our family _was_ nobility at one point in Atlas's history," Weiss added nonchalantly. Yang's eyes bulged out even further and she was left gaping at Weiss's comment. There wasn't any time for a retort, however, as the limo pulled to a stop on the end of the Schnee driveway. Winter was the first to step out, and she held the door open for the rest of the team as a servant in a suit and bow tie led the way into the manor.

They were in a large ballroom, with a set of stairs dominating the center. Multiple servants were buzzing about and doing their duties, ranging from cleaning to carrying messages and so forth. Winter didn't break her stride and lead the team to a set of double doors.

"Weiss, please show your teammates to the dining room, mother should be there waiting to see you. I have to go and talk with father about a few things." Winter turned around and put her hands on Weiss's shoulders.

"And Weiss? I _am_ really glad to see you again." Giving her one last smile, Winter went up the stairs and out of sight of RWBY. Weiss sighed once more before opening the set of double doors and heading down a hallway, the rest of RWBY following her.

"Geez, this place is huge. Is it just for you four?" Yang asked, trying to break the awkward silence that had befallen the team soon after Winter left. Weiss stopped before another pair of double doors and turned around to talk.

"Like I said, we used to be nobility once. We had to hold balls and entertain guests. Even after we formed the company there were still guests to be entertained. Now, the dining room should be through these doors. Ruby, stick to the etiquette lessons I taught you and you should be fine." Weiss looked to Yang.

"Yang…. just act like a normal being."

"Hey! I can act normal. And why doesn't Blake have to be reminded?"

"Because I can trust Blake to act appropriately. You…well, just remember what I said." Weiss straightened herself and turned to the doors.

"Anyway! To dinner. Right this way, please." RWBY entered the dining hall, with Ruby entering first, followed by Blake, Yang and finally, Weiss. The dining room was much smaller than the ballroom, obviously designed with a family setting in mind, and had a small table seated with eight chairs. The table was already set with a tablecloth and plates, glasses filled with water and silverware already in place. At one end of the table was an older black haired woman in a white dress, already seated.

The spotted the team and got up from her seat, moving around the table towards them. She spread arms and wrapped them around Weiss in a strong hug.

"Weiss, it's good to see again. I trust you're doing well?" The woman released Weiss from the hug and gave her attention to the rest of the team.

"So, Weiss, will you introduce me to the rest of your team?" The woman queried. Weiss turned towards her teammates and motioned her arm towards the woman.

"Ruby, Blake, Yang, this," Weiss took a breath.

"Is my mother."

* * *

 _The same time, Atlas, Schnee Manor_

Emmerich Schnee sat at his desk in his office, waiting patiently for his daughter to arrive. He checked the clock on the wall, watching the second hand tick around the clock. His daughter was already a few minutes late, 3, to be exact, and the longer he waited the more agitated he became. This night was special, and further delays would complicate the plans he thought up years earlier. He sat stiff in his chair and continued to watch the clock, waiting in this position for 30 more seconds until a sharp rap on the door drew his attention.

"Enter," he spoke, his voice gruff and clear. The door opened, and Winter Schnee entered the office, a servant closing the door behind her. She walked up to the desk, and postured herself into a rigid stance, the movements practiced and ingrained into her from Atlas Academy. He stared her in the eyes for a moment, before giving her a questioning gaze.

"Didn't know I joined the military, Winter. Now, are you going to relax and greet your father?" At those words he stood up from his chair, moved in front of his desk and hugged her. Winter stiffened at the unexpected contact before relaxing and wrapping her arms around him. She broke away from the embrace and smiled.

"Sorry, it's a force of habit. How've you been since the last time we talked? The board still giving you trouble?" Emmerich's shoulders sagged slightly at the mention of the board.

"The board is getting restless. We're getting less profits from the mines each year, and the attack on Vale has scared investors. They're afraid our supplies will be drained from panicked investors stocking up on ammunition and energy." He turned back towards his desk, shifting some papers.

"And I don't blame them. The militia didn't fare so well, I heard. And the huntsmen were stretched thin." He sighed, before facing Winter again.

"Anyway, enough talk of doom and gloom. Is Weiss here?" Winter nodded.

"Yes, and her team. I told them to wait in the dining room, where mother will be. We should head there now," she spoke. Emmerich nodded, and motioned her to move forward. They walked out of the office and through the maze of hallways to the dining room, where RWBY and Emmerich's wife, Diana, were talking animatedly. Diana noticed his presence and went up to greet him.

As he hugged and kissed Diana, he noticed Weiss look at him and quickly turn her gaze away from him. He also noticed her bandaged hands, and frowned. He would ask later. He moved to address team RWBY.

"Weiss, it's good to see you again. And you all must be her team. I'm Emmerich Schnee, Weiss and Winter's father." He bowed his head slightly.

"Hi there, I'm Ruby, this is my sister Yang, our friend Blake and you uh, obviously know Weiss," she finished with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his head. He smiled and nodded to each of them as they were introduced, and the cautious gaze sent to him by Blake didn't go unnoticed.

 _Not surprising, if Weiss was with them. I wonder what she told them about me?_ He ignored those thoughts and took a seat at the table, and the others followed.

"Very well then, let us start dinner. Bertholdt!" He clapped twice, and a nearby servant left the room to get dinner for the guests. A minute later the dishes came in, with Weiss and Blake taking small bites, and Ruby looking uncertain as she slowly ate at her food. Yang seemed to be working at a snail's pace and slowly cut at her food. The knife went down, and instead of a small piece, half of her course was cut and put in her mouth. Weiss sighed and shook her head.

Emmerich raised an eyebrow, amused by the sight.

 _It seems huntsmen are the same no matter the kingdom,_ he thought, visits to the Atlas Academy cafeteria flashing through his mind. He put his silverware down and turned his attention to Weiss.

"Weiss, how has Beacon this year? Anything interesting occur? Aside from the attack of course." Weiss finished her portion before speaking.

"No, father, aside from the leader of JNPR showing up to the dance in a dress," she said casually. Emmerich's eyes widened slightly, before a small chuckle came from his lips. Diana tried to cover her smile with her hand but failed, if her shaking shoulders were any indication. The rest of RWBY went on with their dinner, aside from a snicker from Yang.

"So, Ruby, I heard you were the leader of your team. Were any of your parents huntsmen or huntresses?" Ruby looked a bit surprised at being addressed, but quickly overcame it and looked at Diana.

"Well, my dad's an old hunter and my uncle Qrow still goes around doing jobs and teaching at Signal. And my mom was too, before she died."

"Oh. I'm sorry to have brought it up." Ruby just shook her and turned her attention back towards her plate.

"It's alright, you didn't know. And besides, it's been a long time, I've gotten over it." The air at the table turned quiet and uncomfortable after that. Eventually, dinner was finished and Emmerich excused himself, but not before he addressed Weiss.

"Weiss, I know it's getting late, but I would like to speak with you later. Should you want to," he spoke, hoping that his attempts to speak with his daughter wouldn't be put off. Weiss didn't turn to look at him, but gave a slight nod. Emmerich sighed softly, and turned to Winter.

"Winter, you should get started on what we spoke about earlier. When you've completed it, come speak with me." Winter nodded and got up from the table.

"Yes father." Weiss's head shot up and followed Winter as she left the room. As the others began to leave she excused herself and followed Winter.

* * *

Weiss followed Winter from a distance, hiding behind pillars and walls as she followed her sister throughout the manor. Her sneaking had almost gotten her caught twice, but luck was with her today as she avoided being sighted. Eventually she followed Winter to the basement and to small enclosed room filled with crates and boxes.

 _Strange, I don't remember being in this room before. Is this a new addition, or if it's old, why was it hidden?_ She hid behind a couple of crates and looked around the edge, and saw Winter rummaging through one of the crates. She noticed the intricate circle in the center of the room, and marveled at its design.

 _Is this some kind of summoning glyph? But wouldn't Winter be able to form it on her own? Unless it's a special type of summon…_ Weiss's mind became instantly more attentive at the idea of learning a new type of summoning. She had to yet to summon anything despite her best efforts, and she was sure that accomplishing a summoning would prove her worth at being able to work on her own.

Winter stopped looking through the crate, and as she turned around Weiss could see a necklace shaped into the familiar symbol of the Schnee snowflake, the color of ice blue. Winter stepped near the circle and held out the necklace.

" _I command thee..._

 _Thou shalt come forth to my side;_

 _Thy sword shalt control my fate._ "

Weiss let out a small gasp at the sudden noise, fortunately Winter didn't seem to notice it. The circle began to glow, casting a red light on the room, and only got stronger as Winter continued the ritual.

" _Abiding by the Holy Grail's haven,_

 _If thou accedest to this will and reason, then answer me_

 _The oath set forth here._

 _I am the embodiment of good in the eternal world._

 _I am the disposer of evil in the eternal world._

 _Thee, the seven heavens that bear the great trinity,_

 _Come forth from the circle of constraint..._ "

The light grew brighter with each word, and a strong but small wind came forth from the circle and Weiss had to shield her eyes from it to keep watching what was unfolding before her. Winter wasn't fazed however and continued on.

" _... O Guardian of the balance!_ "

With that, the light suddenly vanished, and Weiss had to strain her eyes to look through the now dark room. When she saw what the ritual had summoned, however, her eyes grew into saucers and her mouth was left hanging open.

A woman was standing in the center of the circle, wearing light blue clothing with dark leather armor on her shoulders and legs, a hood obscuring her face. White hair peaked through the hood however, and when the figure looked up she saw the noticeable Schnee blue eyes staring at her sister.

It was quiet for a moment, before the woman spoke.

"I ask you, are you my master?" Winter was only slightly fazed by the ritual, but quickly composed herself.

"Yes, I am."

"Then the contract is sealed." The figure made a bow.

"Your servant Lancer awaits your command." At that Winter tilted her head in confusion. Weiss took this time to hide behind the crate, not willing to be caught after witnessing the summoning. Winter spoke up, confusion in her voice.

"Lancer? I mean no offense, your majesty, but I was expecting you to be a Caster."

"Perhaps it was the location. I'm more well known as a warrior here in Atlas than a conniving witch. However, I assure you that my Semblance and Aura manipulation are still at peak performance."

"Hmm. This wasn't how I wanted the war to start out, but I'll just have to adjust my plans. Come Lancer, we must speak with my father."

"As you say, Master." With that Winter walked out of the room, the door closing shut behind her. Weiss waited five beats before letting out a deep breath.

 _What did I just see? And what was that about war? And how could her summon talk? Better take a picture of that circle._ Weiss got up from behind the crate and took out her scroll, snapping a photo and went to the door. She paused however, and went to the crate Winter was searching through and debated whether or not to look through it for anything useful.

"Won't hurt if try it…" she muttered and looked into the crate. It was filled mainly with heirlooms and jewelry, and Weiss was surprised to find an antique dagger in the mix. She huffed, continuing to search when her froze over something. It was jeweled necklace, a red gem connected to a chain. It's only noticeable attribute was its different color, and Weiss almost moved on.

But something inside her was compelling her to take it. Deciding to trust her initiative, she took the necklace and went upstairs.

* * *

 _11 Days after The Breach, Emmerich Schnee's office_

Emmerich Schnee looked up from the report he was reviewing at the knock on his door. Looking at the clock on the wall, he wasn't that surprised at its arrival.

 _It's probably Winter. The ritual isn't that long after all._

"Enter," he said, and a moment later the door opened, and true enough Winter walked into his office, the door shutting behind her. She took a seat at the chair in front of his desk.

"Father, I've completed the ritual and summoned my servant. There were, however, some complications.." Emmerich raised his eyebrows as his elder daughter trailed off.

"Complications…?"

"I believe I can help clear that up." Blue particles appeared as a woman materialized standing next to Winter. Emmerich studied her, hoping to figure out the problem. It didn't take long to recognize, as a spear was in her hand, propped up against her.

"Ah, I see. She's a Lancer."

"Yes, she's a Lancer. I'm sorry father, I thought I would be able to summon her using this specific catalyst." She held up the necklace, before giving it to Lancer. Lancer took the necklace and put it on, letting out a satisfied sigh.

"It feels good to have it again. However don't despair; my abilities are still available to me, as well as my knowledge on spear-play." Emmerich hummed in agreement.

"She's right Winter, you'll just have to change your stratagem accordingly. Instead of baiting the enemy, you'll have to root them out and lure them towards your position. Can you do this, Lancer?" Lancer gave him an amused smirk, as if she was humored by his question.

"Do you take me for a child? But yes, I can do this." At this Emmerich nodded, pleased with the new consensus. He focused his attention back towards Winter.

"Winter, one last thing. I know you're a specialist and you have a strong loyalty to Atlas, and despite how I feel about it, I accept your decision. However, when it comes to the Grail War, the family must come first. Do you understand?" Winter nodded, her face betraying no emotion.

"Winter, you must say it."

"I understand." Emmerich could sense some discomfort though, and put a hand on her shoulder.

"Even if Ironwood, the headmaster, or the council itself tells you otherwise, you must not leave Vale until the war is over. I feel that should the wrong forces win, humanity as a whole shall suffer. So you must win, understand?" Winter's face filled with worry at the news.

"Father? What do you mean?" He released his hand from her shoulder and turned away from her.

"It's as I said, Winter. You must win, or humanity might become even smaller. Irreparably so. Now, go get some rest. I'll have a shuttle ready for you in two days." He looked over his shoulder.

"Spend tomorrow with Weiss. She's sure to enjoy your company before you leave." Winter nodded, before turning around leaving the office.

"Yes, father." And with that Emmerich was alone in his office. He returned to his desk and began where he left off in his report. Not much time passed before another knock sounded on his door. He was surprised at first, before he remembered his request to Weiss.

"Enter."

"Father." It was Weiss. He smiled, his hope of reconciling with his daughter becoming that much closer to reality. What he didn't expect, however, was the red cloaked girl standing next to her.

"Uh, hi there, Mr. Schnee. This is, a, uh...nice office?" she squeaked out, looking a bit timid.

"Thank you, Ms. Rose." Her timidness vanished then, and pout covered her face.

"Ugh, Ms. Rose makes me sound like an adult. Call me Ruby," she said, slight disgust at the title seeping through her voice. She then seemed to realize where she was and immediately went red-faced.

"Uhm, I mean it's great! Call me whatever I want, heh heh…." Ruby trailed off, obviously a lot more consciousness of her current company. Emmerich gave out a loud chuckle.

"It's alright Ruby. I was once fifteen as well, and to be honest, I'm glad to relax when dealing with others." He looked over at Weiss.

"So Weiss, how is Beacon? I don't believe you talked about it at dinner."

"It's nice. Different than Atlas. Did you know the government and the school are separate? I was quite shocked for the first couple of weeks."

"Yes, I did know. You and Winter are too you young to remember, but I grew up in a time when Atlas used to be Mantle. It was very similar to Vale, if my travel there means anything." Weiss and Ruby looked surprised at the mention of traveling. Weiss was the first to speak up.

"You traveled to Vale? Why didn't you talk about it?" Emmerich's mind however, was elsewhere.

 _Fire, explosions, screaming. Streets in flame, mighty forces clashing, causing destruction. A man with a gentle smile and a kind heart, wishing him farewell._

Emmerich blinked, the memories coming up announced. He refocused on Weiss and Ruby.

"Sorry, I was lost for a second. As for your question, it was a long time ago, and I was a different man. I know you think me to be controlling, but I honestly do care about your safety." Weiss crossed her arms.

"I told you I could handle myself. I don't need to be coddled like a child anymore. Why don't you see that." Emmerich sighed, old arguments and counter-arguments coming back.

"I know you can handle yourself, Weiss, but our family has many enemies. The White Fang alone has killed 10 board members, 4 of which were family. If you go out on your own now, they'll find you and eventually will get to you."

"I know that. But you controlled every aspect of my life! Everyday I had to train, always to perfection! I go out without armed guards, I couldn't make friends without your approval, I couldn't even make my own hair! Why can't you give me space?"

"I had to prepare you Weiss! I made you train so you could defend yourself. Yes, perhaps I was harsh with my standards-"

"'Harsh', he says," Weiss huffed. Emmerich growled.

"Watch your tone, Weiss. I'm still your father." Ruby took this moment to interject.

"I know this probably isn't my issue, but can I say something, please?" Emmerich stared at her for a beat, before exhaling. During the short exchange he had let his temper get the best of him and had risen from his chair and had his hands placed on the desk.

 _Our arguments, even small ones, always end up like this, don't they?_ He sat back down, and motioned for Ruby to continue.

"Weiss, I know that you feel like you have no control, but your dad just wants to make sure you're safe. You said so yourself that you lost friends to the White Fang. Imagine it from his perspective, if you lost many of your friends and then thought that they could get your kid, or Blake or Yang or even me." Weiss stayed silent, but her shoulders sagged a bit, and head was a little lower than it was before. Ruby turned to Emmerich.

"And Mr. Schnee, I know you want to protect Weiss, but trust me when I say she can take care of herself. She deserves some more space," Ruby bent a little closer to Emmerich, and covered part of her mouth with her hand.

"I mean, she's kind of clueless about…well, everything."

"Hey!" Ruby looked sheepish and rubbed the back of her head. Emmerich sighed once more, fatigue settling over him. He rubbed hand over his face, mulling over whether or not to tell them the reason why he acted the way he did.

"Do you want to know why I act so strict, Weiss?" His voice was quiet. Weiss raised her head and faced him.

"Yes." He sighed.

"How much Dust do you think the Mistrali Depot made last year? Or the Vacuoan?"

"I wouldn't know."

"Doesn't matter, the answer's the same." Surprise came over Weiss's face.

"You're saying they're empty?" Ruby looked at him in surprise as well. He sighed once more.

"Yes, they're both empty. Only the smaller mines still have some left, but they're more susceptible to Grimm, and others. The recent Faunus scandals on the news? It's happening because the onsite foreman in Mistral has been trying to dig deeper in the Depot." Weiss shook her head in disbelief.

" _That's_ why there's been scandals? What have they been doing?"

"Explosive mining, extended hours, limited rest. He's been pushing his workers non-stop for almost a year. If you believe anything I say, believe this; I don't hate Faunu. I don't care who you are if you're willing to work. But there are substantially more Faunus workers, and many human one are leaving if they can't dig up Dust to earn wages." He paused to gather what he would say next.

"The Vale Depot is doing better, but not by much. The attack has spooked the workforce, though not many died in the assault, thank God. Vacuo is almost a lost cause if all the workers refuse to work. And Atlas is still going strong, having the deepest reserves,but it won't hold up for long if it has to supply all four kingdoms." Weiss could only keep shaking her head in disbelief.

"How could this have happened? I checked the reports before I left, and also when we investigated Torchwick. Everything was fine." Emmerich made a small snort.

"That's because they're falsified. The board and I agreed that fi news of the future shortage would spread, widespread panic would ensue. And it could only be expected, when we use it for almost every daily activity. We've been losing land for generations, and the mines have been in use for centuries." He took another pause.

"That's why I pushed you so hard, Weiss. If I had died, or I couldn't have dealt with the company it would be up to you deal with these problems. Winter is capable, but she's an operative first and foremost; her loyalty is to the government, then the company. You, however, are only bound by familial loyalty, you won't have to toe the line when it comes to the council. And there's more."

"I haven't told anyone yet, but I believe that if no alternative is found, this generation and the next will be the last of humanity." Ruby spoke up for the first time since the Dust revelation was revealed.

"But what the hunters? Sure we use dust, but we can also use regular weapons as well." Emmerich looked Ruby in the eyes.

"Don't be naive, Ruby. Huntsmen are powerful, yes, even worth an army if they last a decade or two, but there aren't enough to keep up with the Grimm. Most huntsmen die out on a job, somewhere in the middle of a forest no one knows and only remembered by a handful of people. And that isn't to say of the quality of huntsmen today." Ruby felt a spike of anger.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The food fight at your academy; your headmaster told me of it, of how most ran away when it started. If they run away at that, what hope will we have against the Grimm. I do not accuse you of such behavior, Ruby, but a disturbing number of your comrades do." He took a breath.

"Isn't there anything we can do?" Weiss's voice was quiet, obviously mulling over the new information. He looked over at her.

"I've funded a research project to replace our Dust based weaponry. They've made promising progress, but it's yet to be tested, and we would need to have more mines and territory to get the materials. The matter remains, however. We need to expand, get more access to Dust or develop an alternative. Or else humanity will fall." At that he remembered something he noticed earlier.

"Before I forget, Weiss, how did you come to bandage your hand?" Weiss, held her right hand and rubbed it nervously.

"Ruby and I were baking cookies, when my hand slipped and touched the pan. It burned my hand, as well as Ruby's, but we decided to let our Auras heal it slowly. The doctors said to have us rest for a while more." Emmerich nodded, before looking at the clock.

"You two should head to bed, and rest. Goodnight." The pair left the office, and Emmerich was left alone for a third time that day.

* * *

 _2 Days later, Atlesian Airport_

The next day passed without anything of import. Winter had spent time with RWBY and Weiss's father and mother had both been busy, Emmerich with business and Diana with entertaining guests from other companies. Winter had left the next day afterwards, but not before telling Weiss that she and her team would be forced to stay in Atlas.

Weiss fumed, and headed straight to her father and told them of what Winter had said. He didn't seem surprised.

"Yes, I knew what Winter had planned. I spoke with your headmaster, and he agreed. If it's about the tournament, don't worry; we have training facilities available and you'll be back in time to participate."

"But she didn't even tell us what she was doing until right before she left! Please, let us leave, we can't go until you approve, seeing as how Winter disabled my funds." At that Emmerich raised an eyebrow.

 _A little far, even for you Winter._

"I'm sure she meant well Weiss-"

" _Please_ father. Ruby tried to make us understand one another, and now I need you to understand where I'm coming from. The Vytal Tournament means the world to us, and if we miss some of it by some other new plan or whatnot, we'd be devastated. Please, let us go." Weiss stared at him, eyes pleading. Emmerich sighed.

 _This reminds me of a conversation I had with my own father. If I hadn't have gone to Vale when I did, would I be in this position today? Maybe… maybe she should go._ He knew why Winter wanted her here; to be away during the Grail War. He had been of a similar mind, but the other night's talk had changed something in them. He thought for a few more moments, before sighing once more.

"Very well. I'll give access to the company funds again. Hire a ride to Vale from the airport, and Winter shouldn't be able to realize you're gone." Weiss nodded and turned to leave.

"And Weiss… Be safe." Weiss stopped at the door and gave her father one last look.

"You too, father."

Weiss gathered the rest of RWBY, and as they boarded the plane headed to Vale, she couldn't shake the feeling that her life wouldn't be the same.

* * *

A/N: Hey there, chapter 2 is up! I was hoping to post this on Monday but forces conspired to delay it by a day.

One thing I learned when writing this chapter is that I can't seem to write anyone on Team RWBY without difficulty, but it did prove to be an interesting hurdle. As for Mr. Schnee, I decided to hopefully portray him as a somewhat sympathetic character, and writing Lancer will probably be easy, so that's a plus. I promise that next chapter will focus back on Cardin and his servant, but I used this chapter to get some other explanations out of the way and to show how Weiss interacts with the rest of her family. As for the other masters, I'll make their sections _much_ shorter than this chapter.

Now I have some questions that I would like for you all to help with.

1\. I'm not new to , but I am new to posting stories. So, would the M rating on this story be appropriate as of this chapter? According to the guidelines, it should, but in my experience it would more often be in T.

2\. Second, would you like to keep the chapters at their current length, or change it to be shorter or longer?

As before, I welcome any criticism or suggestions.

-Collaredblock4

Word Count: 6,521

Page Count: 14


	3. Chapter 3: Enemies and Allies

Chapter 3: Enemies and Allies

 _14 days after The Breach_

Cardin gaped at the figure in front of him, incapable to say anything. The man in front of him was easily 6 feet tall, with white hair and tanned skin, and his grey eyes stared directly at Cardin's. The man's face was blank despite the fact he had just pummeled straight into someone who Cardin thought to be invincible.

 _Holy shit, what did I get myself into?_ The man broke his gaze from Cardin and turned it towards the now broken down door and to the woman in the hallway. Cardin followed his gaze to the newly formed crater in the hallway wall, caused when the new arrival had seemingly slammed into the woman. Said woman picked herself up from the crater, rubble falling clear as she did so. She looked at the man's eyes and grimaced.

"So, you're the fifth Servant? Interesting," she muttered, annoyance filling her voice. The man said nothing in return but what Cardin saw next made his mind spiral further into confusion.

He held his right arm out a ways and a sword appeared out of the air that was there. As his mind attempted to wrap itself around all of what had happened this day, he noticed that the sword was white, and appeared to give the sword a misty or hazy look to it. His amazement was interrupted by the man's voice speaking to him.

"Hey, you. Are you my Master?" The man's back was facing him, but his head was turned so that Cardin could see his eyes once more. He blinked once more before deciding to give him an answer. Taking a quick breath, he kept his gaze and replied.

"Uh...yes?" At the very least, he might live slightly longer with that answer. The man smiled slightly and gave a slight nod before turning his attention back towards his opponent. He gripped his sword tightly as she readied her lance. Before Cardin had a chance to process what occurred, both were gone in an instant, the ground beneath them cracking from the pressure. Cardin stared at the destroyed walls and floor in front of him, before peering into the hallway.

His eyes widened as he spotted a large hole in the wall at the end of the hallway, leading outside into the Beacon grounds. Gathering his courage, he slowly headed towards the hole.

 _What the hell are these people?_

* * *

 _14 Days after The Breach, Beacon Grounds_

The man who had been known as Shirou Emiya in his past life let out a grunt as he parried the lance strike made towards his heart, bracing his arms and watching as another copy of Bakuya broke from the strength of the spearwoman's lance. He backed up, tracing another copy and began analyzing his next move.

She was probably as strong as him, and definitely more agile. Her fighting style was aggressive, similar to Cu Chulainn's, but not as vicious. And going by her behavior in the hall, she was probably more cautious as well, not willing to risk a surprise attack and potentially be taken out. If he gave her the right opening, she would be bound to take it, and he could exploit her attack. He inhaled, and moved forward.

Their weapons moved like lightning, consecutively attacking and parrying each of their strikes. Shirou brought his weapon back to his side after a parry, intentionally leaving his left open to an attack. He watched her eyes narrow as she weighed the risks and benefits, and as they widened slightly as she thrust her spear, all happening in the timespan of less than a second. As her spear drove closer, he opened his left hand in preparation for his counter. He prepared the tracing process.

"Trace, on," he grunted, and the black blade Kanshou appeared in his left hand, almost identical to the first blade. He moved the second blade to intercept the spear, sacrificing it as the spear was moved astray from the impact. The woman made a noise of surprise, and Shirou used this moment to thrust with the copy of Bakuya in his right towards her chest.

But instead of hearing his blade slice through flesh, he watched in mild surprise as his blade bounced harmlessly off her body. Quickly regaining his composure, he followed the backwards motion of his blade and backed off from his attack. He took another breath as he traced new copies of the twin blades. The woman brought her lance back into a resting position, and addressed him.

"You have an interesting trick there, swordsman. Can't say I've seen someone copy the same weapons without Dust." She said it casually, as if it wasn't anymore important than asking for the time of day. Shirou raised an eyebrow at that.

 _At the very least it's a good mindset to have for a Grail War,_ he mused. He lowered his swords to his sides, but kept his muscles taut and ready.

"What can I say, I'm an interesting man," he spoke, arrogance and pride filling his voice. He had learned much from his time dealing with Archer, the least of which was his skills in magecraft, as his sarcasm and wit started to become the norm when dealing with opponents. Though he disagreed with the tactic somewhat, a small part of him enjoyed getting a rise out of his opponents. The woman appeared unaffected by his comment, however.

"You fight with a sword, but you seem like a Saber. Tell me, what class are you?" Shirou shrugged, his face showing disinterest.

"You'll have to find out. It shouldn't be too hard, after all, the lack of a spear eliminates one class, Lancer."

"A smartass, huh? Very well, it won't matter either way when you're dead?" With that she grabbed her spear with one hand and formed a sign with her other, a glyph appearing at her fingertips. Shirou tensed and brought his swords up to bear, before sprinting to her side.

He would have, if his legs had responded. He looked down in surprise as a large golden glyph formed at his feet. It had the appearance of a clock, with the second hand barely moving, and he braced himself as the glyph turned a dark black, and he was propelled upwards. Erasing his copies, he traced his bow and formed a quick prana-filled arrow, which he then fired from his bow. From his vantage point in the sky, he watched as the arrow split off into nine separate arrows, all heading towards Lancer.

Lancer watched as he fired the arrow, and upon seeing them break up summoned 9 separate glyphs, each of them intercepting the arrows before they hit her. A gust of wind came from the explosions as Archer fell back down towards the ground, landing with his legs braced for impact. He stood up to his full height with another arrow already nocked, but kept his bow down. Lancer smirked.

"So, an Archer who fights with swords _and_ bow? This will be an interesting war." She let out a sigh.

"Though my Master will lecture for showing my Semblance in our first fight." She tilted her head as she looked behind Shirou.

"Oh? It looks like your master has arrived, Archer." Shirou looked behind as indeed his master had arrived, partially taking cover next to the large hole in the wall. It seemed that he had gotten somewhat used to the idea of Servants, or at the very least accepted any new variable that would happen this night, as his face wasn't as dumbstruck as before, instead only having a slightly surprised face.

"Holy shit…" his master's voice trailed off as Shirou took a moment to finally observe his surroundings. The area they were in was off to the side of a cement walkway that seemed to lead towards the front of the school, and it was covered in cracked stone and small crates. If Shirou's sense of time was correct, the entire exchange between him and Lancer had lasted just shy of under a minute for his master.

"Master, I really don't think you should be here. You'll get in the way," Shirou cautioned. His Master being here complicated things, and being taken out this early in the War wasn't an agreeable prospect for him. Before his Master could react, a new voice spoke.

"That's enough, Lancer. Cease your attack until I say otherwise." The voice spoke with confidence, and was crisp and to the point. Shirou easily managed to pinpoint the source of the voice, and as he suspected a similar looking woman stepped out from behind one of the many columns dotting the side of the walkway.

"Geez, you look like an older version of Schnee," he heard his master say. The woman looked towards him and looked him over.

"So, the fifth Master is a student here. This complicates things." She walked closer towards the battleground before stopping just behind Lancer. She looked towards the boy once more.

"You there, Master of Archer. Judging by your expression, I doubt you know the ritual you have just entered correct." He nodded his head, but otherwise stayed silent.

"As I thought. I apologize for Lancer's...aggressive behavior, but I needed to know if another Master was here at the Academy. As you were unaware of the War's existence beforehand, I'll give you a choice; Use your command seals to force Archer to make a contract with me, and I'll let you go. I'll give you safe haven for the remainder of the war, and I'll even give a command seal to my Servants to leave you unharmed." She took a breath.

"Or you can refuse, and I'll rip your command seals from your arm." His Master recoiled at the venom in her words, and rubbed his hand nervously. Shirou looked at his Master, debating whether or not to interfere. On one hand, it would remove someone from the war, and she even promised to keep him safe for the rest of the war. And two Servants would have a better chance at winning the Grail.

 _Or destroying it,_ he thought. And there was the other side of the arrangement. He had no clue as to what the woman's intentions for the Grail was. While the same could be said of his current Master, him being a student would lead him to believe that his intentions would be more in line with his own. The fact he was dragged into the war as well reminded him of his own experiences in the Grail War.

 _And for all I know, she could be lying and just waiting for a chance to kill him._ Yes, if she was anything like other magus he knew, her actions would be explained by other, less noble motives. He sighed softly, before making up his mind.

"Master," he called out. The boy looked over at him, startled by the interruption of his own thoughts.

"Do you trust me?" He stared into the boy's eyes, and held his gaze. The boy held the gaze, and a few seconds later he turned his attention towards the woman.

"I refuse. I don't trust those who try to have me killed. Even if Lancer wasn't supposed to hurt me, you mentioned command seals. I assume those allow you to control these guys." Taking her silence as an affirmation, he continued.

"Then that means you could've ordered her to not harm anyone in the school." He looked once more at Shirou and then towards the woman.

"I'll take my chances with him." Smiling, Shirou dematerialized the bow, and traced two new copies of Kanshou and Bakuya. Lancer's Master said nothing, frowning at his Master. Lancer had her lance off to her side as usual, but he didn't doubt she would have it ready in an instant. Lancer's Master sighed before walking back to the pillar she came out behind from.

"Lancer, dispose of Archer, if possible. We'll leave the boy for afterwards." Lancer got her spear ready and held it in a defensive stance. Shirou raised his twin blades in response and thought out his plan of attack.

 _She's waiting for me to attack, and based on our earlier bout she probably has one of those glyphs prepared. One can influence time, one can repulse objects and another can act like a shield._ His grip on his swords tightened.

 _And she has that barrier that blocks my attack. Which means I'll need a weapon that goes through defenses._ His mind searched through the catalogue of weapons stored in Unlimited Blade Works.

 _Caladbolg would work, though I want to keep it hidden for as long as possible. Fragarach only works on the opponent's strongest attack as well. But…_

Shirou grinned as the ideal weapon came to mind. He canceled the projects of Kanshou and Bakuya, and the image of the weapon came to his mind.

"Trace, on." He held out his hand as a long, red spear formed in his hands. The spear that belonged to Ireland's Cu Chulainn appeared in his hands, and a small part of him startled in fear as he laid eyes upon the weapon that had once killed him. He ignored the feeling as quickly as it had appeared, and moved into the stance his Lancer had used when using the weapon.

"As your Master gave mine a chance to escape the War, I'll give your's a chance to run away from this battle, Lancer." Lancer's eyes were staring at him and the spear with a mixture of wariness and confusion. She readied her spear.

"I'm afraid that won't happen Archer. Let's end this battle quickly," her voice remained calm and collected. Shirou channeled prana into the spear as he accessed the memories of Lancer's battles, using his knowledge to activate the spear's ability.

 _Gae Bolg: The Barbed Spear That Pierces With Death_. An Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm that reverses the order of events leading up to the opponent's death, so that the cause of the spear thrust was the piercing of the enemy's heart. In doing so, it bypasses any and all defenses by warping space and traveling through time, if need be. The only defense being a high luck rating or divine protection.

For Shirou's purposes, it was enough. If Lancer was killed, one less Servant. If not, her Master would most surely flee at the sight of the Noble Phantasm. He prepared himself one last time before thrusting the spear.

"Gae Bolg!" The lance tip morphed into a red beam curving and twisting through the air. Lancer's eyes widened as she tried to defend herself, activating a purple glyph in front of her.

It was in vain though, as Shirou saw Gae Bolg move under the glyph and then upwards striking for her heart. The next second was tense as the bright red light of Gae Bolg lessened until it vanished. Shirou lowered the tip of the spear towards the ground, and watched as Lancer drew ragged breaths, clutching her bloodied left shoulder. Her spear was on the ground, and she was on one knee.

"Bastard," she muttered, hissing in pain as the curse of the spear interrupted whatever healing process that had begun.

"Using a cursed spear. Hmph. How the hell did you get the spear Archer? Only the Hound has that spear." She stared at him, rage filling her eyes. Shirou's eyes widened a little at the mention of Cu Chulainn.

"You know the Hound?"

"There are some heroes that everyone knows, regardless of the universe Archer." She stopped talking after that, continually hissing at her wounded shoulder. Shirou spotted her Master staring with open shock, before attempting to compose herself. She looked towards Shirou.

"I assume that your deal is off the table then?" Shirou shook his head.

"No, you're still free to go, if you wish. As I said, you gave my Master a fair deal and I won't forget that." She seemed surprised at that, but then turned around and started to walk off the grounds.

"Come, Lancer. I'll heal your wounds later." Lancer gave him one last dirty look, before dematerializing. Shirou watched the woman leave, and after he was sure Lancer wouldn't attack again, he turned towards his Master.

"We should get somewhere safe, away from here. DO you know any place like that?" His Master turned to him.

"Yeah, my dorm room should be good enough. My team stays in there and we all know how to fight," he pressed a hand to his shoulder as blood covered his uniform shirt. Shirou looked at the wound with concern.

"You're bleeding," he stated plainly. His Master snorted.

"You don't say, how observant. Anyways, let's go." He turned around and headed for the school.

"Name's Cardin, by the way. Yours?"

"Archer. You wouldn't know my name." Shirou dematerialized and followed Cardin.

"We should look at that wound soon, Master." Cardin jumped at the voice in his head and frantically looked around. Shirou pressed down his urge to laugh as materialized in front of him.

"Relax, it's just me. We can speak telepathically with each other." He punctuated his point by pointing a finger to his head. He then nodded towards his wound.

"Lancer gave you that?" Cardin nodded and kept his hand pressed to it.

"Yeah, I was in the library when she-" He cut himself off and his eyes widened.

"Crap, Velvet was there! Shit, shit, shit!"

"A friend?"

"Yes, we were studying and she said she would leave soon after I went to return a book. Lancer got to me a couple of minutes after." He exhaled as he ran his hands through his hair.

"If she got hurt waiting behind for me… Come on, we got to check the library!" With that, Cardin ran back through the hole and towards the library. Shirou sighed, dematerializing and following his Master.

 _This is an interesting War, to say the least._

* * *

 _14 Days after The Breach, Beacon Academy_

Cardin huffed as he ran through the library, his shoulder flaring up with pain. He got to the table where he and Velvet studied, and was equal parts relieved and scared when he found no sign of her.

 _It seems that your friend already left._ Cardin jumped slightly, unused to the new voice in his head.

 _But it could also mean Lancer's very thorough with witnesses_ , Archer continued. His words did little to soothe Cardin's mind, though he knew it was a valid possibility. He searched around the table one last time, and finding nothing, grunted.

"I want to go by her team dorm and check, just in case." Hearing no dissent from Archer, he made his way to the exits, and was surprised to see them locked. It him then that the minutes leading up to his encounter with Lancer had been shortly before the newly installed curfew imposed on the students.

"Of course I forget about the curfew," he cursed under his breath. Archer materialized next to him.

"Having trouble?" he queried, mirth filling his voice. Cardin gave him an annoyed look.

"Ha ha, funny. I forgot about the curfew, and now we're stuck in here. If I get seen by any staff they'll be bound to fry me about all the destruction you and whoever she was caused."

"Lancer. Her name's Lancer."

"Whatever. You got any ideas to get us out of here that doesn't involve breaking down the door?" Archer took a moment to think, before nodding. He grasped the handle of the door, and with ease he forced the door forward and off its hinges. Cardin sighed.

"Why is it always me?" Archer grunted before motioning with his other hand to go forward.

"Go on, I'll fix this. You have a friend to find, remember?" Cardin slumped his shoulders, before raising them and moving through the halls, careful to make note of the positions of the school cameras. It would be a two minute walk to CFVY's dorm room under normal circumstances and with Cardin trying to not be noticed, took him seven or so minutes to reach the second year's room.

He knocked hard with the bottom of his fist, the door shaking slightly. Seconds went by with no answer, and he started to get impatient. He slapped the door with his palm a few more times, putting in the same amount of force, and heard movement coming from behind the door.

"Fine, fine! I'm coming," a female voice shouted irritably. The door opened not to Velvet, but to her team member Coco, in a simple shirt and pants pajamas. Although it was well past curfew for the school, CFVY's room didn't show any sign of slowing down from what Cardin could see.

The big guy, Yatsuhashi, was focusing intently on the team's television and the other one, was it Fox? He was busy playing a card game with a simple gaming program. Coco stared at him.

"Cardin? The hell are you doing here? You should be in your room freshie." Cardin ignored her and instead used his superior height to peer into the room. No sign of Velvet.

"What are you doing?"

"Is Velvet here? Please, I need to know." She narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

"Why? I'm not letting you mess with her here. You still have a quite a ways to-"

"Is she here? Yes or no, I need to know!" Cardin became increasingly exasperated, his voicing slowly raising. Yatsuhashi turned from his tv, and Fox tilted his head towards the door at the sudden noise. Coco took it all in stride.

"Hey, keep your voice down. And you still haven't answered my- What the hell happened to your shoulder?" The previous suspicion and annoyance in her voice vanished. Cardin stared her in the eyes.

"Please I need to know if she's here," he was pleading now, his voice much quieter than his previous outburst. Before she could answer, Velvet rounded the corner, dressed in similar pajamas to Coco. Cardin relaxed, his shoulders slumping in relief.

"Good, you're here." Velvet's face morphed into a look of confusion.

"Why wouldn't I be here? I left a minute after you went to return the book." She gave Cocoa look and motioned her head back towards the room, and Coco hesitantly left the two of them, but not before taking another look at Cardin's shoulder. Yatsuhashi and Fox looked at one another and shrugged, and turned their attention towards their previous endeavours.

Velvet looked at him once again.

"What are you doing here Cardin? You should be with your team." Her eyes caught sight of his shoulder and concern filled her face.

"What happened to your shoulder? What did you get up to after I left?" Her voice had a slight accusatory tone at the last bit. Cardin clutched his shoulder, but felt it to be noticeably less pained than before.

"It's an accident, I swear. Listen, you need to stay in the room for the night, alright? You'll probably want to get me to the infirmary, but I'll be fine. Lock the doors and keep an ear out for anything that sounds suspicious." He looked around the hallway nervously.

"Archer, do you know if anyone's here?"

 _No, Master, we're alone for the time being._

"Who're you talking to?" Velvet looked into the direction Cardin had spoke and found no one. He turned his attention towards her and started to back away from the door.

"Just do what I said, alright? Just for tonight, and I'll explain later, ok?" Not waiting for a response he moved back through the hallway and towards his dorm room, where he opened the door and entered the room.

Shutting the door, he sighed and sat next to the wall of his room.

 _This is going to be a tough one to explain._

 _14 Days after The Breach, Citadel Hotel, Vale_

Winter scrunched her eyes as she reviewed the what had happened during the course of the night. She and Lancer had come up with a plan to root out the other Masters, starting by searching parts of Vale and then moving on to Beacon, with Lancer being in spiritual form and scouting the area. Lancer would draw out any Servants at the school and Winter would approach their master should they be a student.

But Archer had upset their plans. Lancer had discovered a student who might've been a master and had followed him, determined to pressure him to reveal his Servant.

"We'll have to be more careful around that Archer next time, Lancer," she said, feeling a headache starting to form. Lancer materialized in a chair near her.

"He's definitely an interesting Servant. An Archer who fights with the bow, sword and spear? You… _huntsmen_ might value your odd weapons and styles, but they're usually combined into one weapon. His are separate." She scowled.

"And that spear…"

"I found it odd that you couldn't block it, given your skill with your Semblance. Any ideas why it didn't work?" Lancer's scowl disappeared, and her face remained neutral.

"It was the spear belonging to the Hound of Ireland, a hero you'll never know. What interests me is how he got it." Winter gave her a questioning look.

"How so?"

"The Hound isn't from our world; He exists in a separate reality to our own. Because all Servants come from the Throne of Heroes, time and space are meaningless, so theoretically a Servant can end up in a universe different from their own."

"So if he's from a different universe…"

"Then our efforts would be wasted trying to look for his identity. He could have any variety of noble phantasms at his disposal."

"And he would be able to look for yours," Winter finished. Lancer nodded, and rolled her shoulder. Winter examined the wound, and her mood was lifted slightly to see it begin to heal.

"Your wound is looking better already," she remarked. Lancer made a noise of affirmation, before speaking.

"Yes, it seems that his weapon has been destroyed given that the curse is gone. Although, his multiple copies of those swords suggests he can create more." Winter didn't say anything, deciding to review what she saw. One moment in particular caught her attention.

"That you glyph you prepared. What would it have done?" Lancer looked over at Winter.

"It's a defense against curses and adverse effects from Dust and Aura. Though it seems that curse can negate that defense." Lancer paused, and once she was satisfied with the condition of her shoulder, hopped up from the chair and walked over to Winter.

"I thought you would have mastered that already, given that you can already summon."

"Not every Schnee is as good as you were at this age, Lancer." Lancer scoffed, her hands on her hips.

"They should. My children were already summoning before your age. What has my line become?" As she was saying this, she dematerialized and Winter was left alone in her room.

 _All Schnees seem to prideful in their abilities, doesn't it?_ Winter sighed, and prepared to go to bed for the night and renew her search in the morning.

* * *

 _14 Days after The Breach, RWBY dorm room, Beacon_

Weiss looked over the room as she went through her mental checklist one last time. In front of her was a circle of red dust, forming a design exactly like that she had taken pictures of at the Schnee Estate. She had memorized the words of the chant Winter had said, and she had poked her finger with a needle multiple times over the past hour to get her Aura ready from the jet lag she and her team were experiencing. She was ready.

And the pendant she had grabbed in that room was safely on her person, in a pocket on her bolero jacket. She still didn't know why she had grabbed it, but she kept it on her person, feeling a strange desire to keep it with her at all times. Weiss cleared her head of all other thoughts and held out her hand.

She said the words, and the ritual began.

* * *

A/N: Hello there people, and this is the new chapter to Fate of Remnants Past. Sorry I took longer than last time to update the story, but I've been focused on other things and generally wasting time I probably shouldn't. But, anyway I'm glad for all the reviews and views so far, and all the insight it has given me. You can ignore Truecrusher, VKJack and MrSteamingEye, they're all friends of mine and they don't mean anything by what they said.

Williamaesop: Thanks for the feedback, I'll try and make the chapters longer if I can, but at the least I'll try and keep them around the 12 page mark, so every chapter's consistent. I'll err on the side of caution as well unless proven otherwise that it isn't correct and thanks for giving feedback.

SanShine: Thanks for the review, and I agree that those ideas would provide a lot of potential, but unfortunately I don't have anything like that planned in the future, sorry.

Papa Wolfstar: Reading your comment almost made me wish I had thought of adding Brynhild, but I don't know much when it comes to Germanic mythology and Lancer is based on a fictional character. But thanks for giving me the idea, it seems to be a really good one.

Below will be the Stat sheets of the Servants that we've met so far, and any unknown information will be filled in as we go. For now I'll stick to the basic info and stats, and then add skills and so on later.

True Name: Shirou Emiya

Class: Archer

Alignment: Neutral Good

Stats:

STR: B MGC: B

END: C LCK: D

AGI: C N.P.: B

True Name: Edelweiss Schnee

Class: Lancer

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Stats:

STR: B MGC: A

END: C LCK: B

AGI: B N.P.: B

As always, please leave a review, I really enjoy knowing what you guys think and expect, and it gives a way to improve my story that I may not see.

Thank you, Collaredblock4.

Words: 4,698

Pages: 12


	4. Chapter 4: The Masters

Chapter 4: The Masters

 _14 Days after The Breach, CRDL's dorm room, Beacon_

Cardin prodded his wound, hissing when his finger made contact with edge of the wound. The flow of blood had stymied to the point of a papercut, and he grit his teeth as Sky inspected the wound.

"Well, I don't know what the hell you did to get this, but it must have a been a monster of weapon to do this damage," he said calmly. He leaned in closer to the wound.

"Cut clean through muscle, and I think I can see a tiny bit of bone. It isn't all bad though," his voice became a bit lighter as he stepped away from Cardin. Cardin scoffed.

"Gee, it's so good to have a spear skewer me in the shoulder. I'm so honored to have my arm be nearly useless," he spoke, sarcasm layering his voice. Sky shook his head.

"Smartass," he muttered. Dove watched the two from his seat next to them, leaving Russel alone to scavenge their room for a first aid kit.

"What kind of combat school doesn't have a aid kit in the dorm rooms?" Russel grumbled. He thumbed through the bathroom cabinet. Sky crossed his arms and leaned against the wall.

"The school that also has an infirmary meant to handle such a situation? The infirmary we could be using right now, seeing as how it's open all night and has an automated treatment _and_ messaging system." He looked back over to Cardin.

"Why aren't we using that right now?" Dove nodded in agreement.

"How did you get that anyhow? I doubt any of the staff would allow a spar to go on long enough for Aura to fail." Cardin looked up at the ceiling and debated on telling his team about what he had saw that night.

 _What do you think Archer? They're my team and I'll be dealing with them for probably the entire War._

 _It would be nice to have allies that understand what we'll be dealing with. Might save us some trouble in the future._ Archer paused.

 _But once you tell them, you can't go back. I'll leave it up to you._ Cardin closed his eyes and waited a moment. He opened them again and looked at his teammates.

"Guys? I'd like you all to hear this." Russel stopped his rummaging, pausing before shrugging and making his way to the group. Sky didn't move from his position against the wall and Dove kept his attention on Cardin. He took a deep breath.

"I was attacked by some woman in the library. And that's not all. Archer." On cue, Archer materialized behind Cardin, arms crossing his chest. The rest of CDRL, to their credit, didn't immediately overreact. Sky's eyes bulged and his mouth opened and closed dumbly. Dove was in a similar state to Sky, but to a smaller degree and attempted to appear calm. Russel didn't react at first, but gradually he started to frown, and his frown turned into a look of horror as he attempted to speak.

"Wha- Hu- Fuck," he croaked. Archer said nothing, going over to Cardin.

"I can take a look at your wound if you want, master," he said, gesturing at the wound with his hand. Cardin nodded and rubbed his face with his hands, keeping his gaze low as Archer put a hand on his shoulder. Slowly, he felt a small warmth cover his shoulder and the pain began to lessen. As Archer continued with his healing, Dove spoke up first.

"So, uh…. Archer, who, or _what_ , are you?" He asked slowly. Archer didn't look away from Cardin as he answered Dove.

"Simply, I'm a hero. Someone whose deeds and actions have been recognized after death. Cardin here summoned me, and he's to be my master for the Holy Grail War," he explained simply. Sky spoke next, still leaning against the wall.

"So, you're a dead guy, but a famous one. And you're going to fight a cup?" Archer nodded.

"Mhm. Supposedly it can grant any wish one wants, but really it can only grant what can already happen. Miracles are out of its power." He looked over his progress, bringing his other hand to cup his chin.

"Needs a bit more work," he murmured. Dove looked to Sky, who shrugged his shoulders.

"The Grail isn't what it's made out to be. It would be far safer to destroy it, and stop any destruction it might cause, trust me," Archer spoke, never taking his attention from the wound. Dove frowned at the information, but decided to not argue the point at the moment, instead focusing on another topic.

"Well then, who are you? It would be nice to know who we're dealing with," Dove asked. Archer stopped his healing, inspecting his work. He nodded and looked towards Dove.

"I'm afraid you wouldn't know me, unfortunately. It wouldn't give you any insight into what I can do, but you can help me with some questions I have." Grabbing a chair, he turned it so he was sitting in it backwards. He looked at the two of them.

"First off, do you know of anyone who could read minds?" Russel was beginning to get over his shock and stood up, and once he saw Cardin testing his shoulder he sighed and went back to the bathroom, cleaning up his mess. Sky motioned his head to Dove.

"Better ask him, he's the guy who knows the most about Aura and Semblances." Dove nodded, getting an excited look on his face.

"Yep, I've been studying a lot on past Semblances. So far no one has ever been documented with a semblance to read a mind." He leaned in closer, a conspiratorial look coming onto his face.

"But I have a theory that semblances can be passed down from family members. The Schnee's are the only ones to be reported with this trait, but given the number of humans and faunus throughout history, as well as other animals, it wouldn't be hard to believe that some semblances have been repeated." Archer's face was serious, absorbing all the information.

"While we're on the topic, can you explain what Aura is?" Cardin stopped testing his shoulder and looked over at his servant.

"Shouldn't you know about Aura already? I mean, you're a hero so you must have fought someone with Aura." Archer shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"The summoning must have been botched, because I didn't come with all the knowledge I would've. It seems to be the case, given that Lancer was there when I arrived." Cardin brought his chair over to the group, sitting in it normally.

"It was a spur of the moment thing, yeah. And what information are you talking About?"

"Language and history, mostly. I'm speaking to you with modern terms, am I not? But when a summoning is botched, not all of that comes through. Fortunately for us all I remember who I am, but not other things." Cardin nodded and motioned for Dove to continue.

"Aura's essentially someone's soul given form. Usually, we use it like a shield to stop blows, and it can even heal us when we get injured, though that varies. Semblances are essentially abilities that are unique to each individual, though I have my doubts as I said before," he finished. Archer rubbed his chin and mulled over the knowledge.

"I see, that would explain why Lancer deflected my blows in our fight." He looked over at Cardin, who was pulling a chair over for Russel. Russel waved him off and dragged the chair into the group.

"Don't need to fill me in, heard everything in there. My question is, what're we gonna do when that chick comes back?"

"We're going to fight them, Rus. It's called a war for a reason," Sky spoke, his voice taking on an annoyed tone. Russel waved his hand at him as Cardin looked back at Archer.

"How many are we going to fight? Lancer called me the fifth master back in the library."

"There's about seven Masters, meaning we might have to fight six. And if she called you the fifth then the other two Servants have yet to be summoned." Archer's face still carried a look of deep thought and a bit of concern.

"Without knowing which of the other classes has been summoned, we can expect almost anything to be targeting us. Or watching us, if Assassin has been summoned." Russel cleared his throat.

"I know I'm late to this little group chat, but how can an Assassin be considered a hero?"

"Someone's got to do the dirty things in life. Heroes are usually paragons of morality and human ideals, but Assassins are the exception in this instance. In any case, how they're qualified isn't the concern, merely that they're a part of the war and will most likely be our enemy." The others nodded, no one knowing what to say next. Russel spoke up again.

"So, these classes. What should we be expecting? Swords? Guns? Gunswords?" Archer blinked at that, but schooled his face fast enough to make Cardin question himself.

 _If he's a hero, then he should be familiar with unconventional weapons._ Cardin kept his gaze on his servant.

 _Just who are you, really?_ He broke off his line of thinking as Archer began speaking.

"The classes should follow a fairly standard system, if my records hold true. Seven classes, Saber for swordmasters, Archers for bowmem, Lancers for spearmen. These three are the knight classes, each having some level of semblance resistance. Saber is usually considered best due to their balanced and high stats. Then Riders for those with mounts, Casters for those with dust, Assassins for assassins and Berserkers for heroes cursed with madness." Sky sighed.

"It's like a fucking rpg," he muttered. Archer shrugged slightly.

"A good comparison, if nothing else." He pointed a finger at Cardin's hand, which Cardin now realized had a strange red marking on it.

"That marking on your hand are your command seals master. Three absolute commands that you can give me at any time, they can force em to do something or can be used to help in battle. I hope we don't have to use them." Archer looked at the clock nearby.

"You all should get some rest, especially you, master. I don't need food or rest, so I'll keep watch on the room." Cardin yawned at the mention of sleep, his muscles aching and nodded, moving towards the dorm closet. He dressed into his sleepwear and seeing that the lights were off and everyone in their bed, dropped onto his own.

 _Just so you know master, you might get dreams of my life. It's a consequence of our contract. You shouldn't have to worry about it now, but later in the war it may get more prominent._ Cardin mentally sighed, too tired to care about the implications of what Archer said. He closed his eyes and drifted off into sleep.

* * *

 _14 Days after The Breach, RWBY's dorm room, Beacon_

Weiss stared at the woman in front of her, who was looking back at her patiently. Long black hair stretched to her waist and blue eyes staring into hers. She wore a sleeveless red vest with two thin gold stripes running down the center, and she had on a short black skirt and full length stockings. Her arms had sleeves separate from the vest, and red gloves covered her palms. It took all Weiss had to not squeal like a child at the sight of her summon.

 _Yes! I've done it! Though I don't remember ever fighting someone like this…_ Weiss ignored that train of thought, and watched her summon, waiting for a reaction. The woman placed a hand on her hip, her face remaining neutral.

"Are you my master?" Weiss straightened herself, clasping her hands behind her back and imitating Winter as best she could and stared at her summon in the eyes.

"Yes. My name is Weiss Schnee and you are my summon. I admit though, I don't recall ever meeting you." The summon cocked her head to the side, a confused look on her face.

"Why would you have met me? I don't recall to have ever meeting you," she said, her voice containing a hint of confusion. Weiss started a bit, unprepared for any response aside from acknowledgement from the seemingly sentient summon. Weiss attempted to compose herself.

"Winter's summons never talked before. Though I never saw her summon a _person_ either…Never mind that. My goal was to summon a familiar and I did so. You can go," she dismissed her with a wave of her hand. The woman scrunched her face in annoyance at Weiss's statement.

"A familiar? You think I'm some common _familiar_? I'm a _heroic spirit_. I'm worth a thousand regular familiars," she said. Weiss stared in shock as her famil- spirit, kept on talking.

"I see now that I have a clueless master to work with." She put a hand to her face, shaking her head.

"Do you even know what the Grail War is, or do I have an accidental summoning to deal with as well?" Weiss hadn't said a word in the short rant the woman had been on, too shocked by having what should have been a normal, if slightly more intelligent, familiar speak back at her. She fumed at the mention of an accidental summoning and determined to make her mind known to the upstart spirit.

"I'll have you know that the summoning wasn't an accident. I did it! I won't have some familiar or spirit or _whatever_ diminish my accomplishments! Not when I can prove that I'm just as good as Winter," she muttered the last bit under her breath. The spirit didn't move during her speech, deciding to pay her attention and stayed quiet. Seconds passed by, silence awkwardly filling the air as the two stared each other down.

Eventually the other woman sighed and sagged her shoulders. She waited another second before returning her gaze back to Weiss.

"Look, perhaps we should start over. It's clear that neither of us is what the other expected," she said calmly. Weiss glowered at her for a few seconds before nodding hesitantly. The spirit gave a small smile.

"Good. Now, I'm your Caster class servant for the Holy Grail War. Caster will suffice for a name. Who are you?"

"Weiss Schnee. Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, the largest dust company. Can you tell what this whole war business is about?" A small frown appeared on the servant's lips.

"I'll condense it as much as possible. It's an object that can cause a great deal to occur, but cannot grant miracles. It allows you to summon heroic spirits such as myself, and grants the master of these spirits three undeniable commands. It should be located on your right hand." Weiss rubbed her hand, taking apart the bandages enough to peek at the red designs on her hand.

 _That explains the mark at least._

"You mentioned a war. Who are we fighting?"

"Other masters, about seven in total, including us. The other spirits are in similar classes as mine, but each is specialized differently. They include Saber, Archer, Lancer, Berserker, Assassin and Rider. Each is a hero from myth and legend, and each will be fighting to win the grail, most likely trying to kill the others involved." Weiss felt her mood worsen at the news.

"I'd like to avoid killing anyone, if possible." Caster merely kept up a relaxed posture.

"The servants themselves are already dead. As for the masters, even the weakest servant can outclass most humans. It shouldn't be too difficult to incapacitate them master." Weiss felt a small amount of her mood be lifted.

"Anything else I should know?" Caster nodded.

"Usually there would be overseers to referee the war. I'll begin looking for them tonight, as sleep and food aren't necessary for servants. In the meantime you should rest, it's getting a bit late." Weiss nodded and checked outside the bathroom door. The rest of RWBY was asleep and appeared to have not been disturbed by the conversation, thankfully. Weiss looked behind her as Caster spoke again.

"I'll start the preparations for a workshop to be made here at the dorm. Don't worry, your teammates won't notice it and it'll help us out in the long run. And you mentioned being an heiress, correct?" Weiss fully turned around, shooting her servant a questioning look.

"Yes? Why?"

"She's rich, too," Caster said under her breath. She raised her voice as she started her search for materials to build the workshop.

"Good, I'll need access to some of that money for my magecraft," she said simply. Weiss became even more confused.

"Did you just say for your magic?" Caster let out an annoyed huff.

"No, not magic, mage- look, I just need the money, ok?"

"I'll see what I can do," Weiss spoke, and after getting a confirming hum, left the bathroom and went to bed.

* * *

 _15 Days after The Breach, waterfront, Vale_

Carmine Russet admired the rising sun shining on the calm water, leaning against the railing of the bridge he was on. A cool breeze came along, and he sighed in content as he watched the city of Vale start to come alive. The tall black-haired man stayed there for a few more minutes, content to take his time on his way to Beacon Academy.

"Pretty, ain't it?" Carmine didn't turn as the voice of the man he had met a few days before filled the air. He merely nodded, and the stubbled man leaned on the railing next to him. Shaggy blonde hair ruffled with the breeze, and both men kept silent, neither wanting to end the calm. Carmine eyed the dark leather jacket and jeans the man wore.

"Where'd you get those?" He asked, curious. The other man shrugged.

"At the store. Had to use your money," he said unapologetically, offering his wallet back. Carmine sighed softly and took the wallet, already anticipating the amount of jobs he'd have to take to make up for losses.

 _Being a huntsman isn't easy. Forever poor…_ He spotted the morning populace start to appear at the end of the bridge and stood up from the railing. He started walking in the opposite direction of the crowd.

"Come on Saber, we should get going," he called out. The other man walked away from the railing and fell in step with Carmine, the two heading deeper into Vale. It wasn't long before the streets were filled with a modest amount of people, each moving separately from one another and going on with their lives. Saber propped his hands behind his head and looked left to right, staring at each new building and attraction the duo came across.

"It sure has changed since I was last here," he remarked, his tone neutral. Carmine put his hands into the pockets of his unzipped windbreaker and looked behind him.

"Oh yeah? In a good way or bad?" Saber didn't immediately respond, instead looking at a cafe that was populated by a few people outside. He wasn't at them, though, instead staring at a flyer nailed outside on the doorway. Carmine moved to his side and read the paper.

"Huh, what do you know," he said. The flyer had a message from the cafe employees, saying how grateful they were to a huntsman who helped them during The Breach. Saber read the flyer and went inside the cafe, Carmine following close behind. The cafe was spacious on the inside, small tables dotted throughout the premise and a large window next to the counter. They walked over, Carmine looking over what the cafe offered and Saber calmly staring ahead.

They hadn't waited long before an employee came over, a cat faunus with ears and a tail, tying her apron together. She looked at the two men and put on a polite smile, getting behind the register.

"What can I get you gentlemen today?" she said politely.

"I'll just have water, thank you," Carmine said, waiting for Saber to order his drink. Saber looked directly into the employee's eyes.

"Do you have any ale?" he said bluntly. She looked taken aback at his request. Confusedly looking over at Carmine, she spoke.

"Ale, sir? Like alcohol?" Saber nodded, not breaking his stare. Carmine gave her a shrug.

"Might as well give him some if you have any. Best way to get him out of your hair," he said plainly. She nodded and looked back at Saber.

"Well… we have a cask of beer from Mistral from 60 years ago. The boss doesn't want it, so I guess you could have it." Saber smiled and nodded at the news, happy to get something that was hopefully strong. Carmine gave her a questioning look.

"Why hasn't anyone bought it yet if the owner doesn't want it?"

"Because it's 400 Lien. We don't get many wealthy customers here, and no one wants to spend 400 Lien on a cask of beer in a cafe." Carmine rubbed the bridge of his nose, digging out his wallet and dropping it in Saber's already held out hand.

"Just don't spend too much, alright?" Saber waved off his concern.

"Don't worry, this is a worthy goal to spend money on. We could get drunk during the festival! And get others drunk!" The employee flagged down another employee, a well built man going towards the back of the establishment.

"Robert, can you get the cask up here for these guys? And might as well give them the dolly too…" she instructed. She gave them another look.

"You're probably not going to finish it here, right?"

"Yes."

"No." They spoke at the same time. Carmine gave his companion another look and looked back at the employee.

"No," he reaffirmed. Saber let out a small whine but said nothing else. The woman nodded and put in their orders. Handing her a credit card and giving back the wallet, Saber looked around the cafe, noting that more people were coming in.

"Hey mister, can I ask you a question?" Saber looked around at the voice, and looked down as he felt a tug on his pant leg. A boy was looking up at him with a curious gaze, and Saber knelt down to eye level with the child. He wasn't older than nine if he had to guess, and he gave the kid a grin.

"Sure, what do you want know?" The boy crossed his arms.

"Are you a hunter? You look like one I met?"

"I am one, you could say. Although I didn't go to a school like most do." Carmine watched the pair. The boy's eyes lit up and another question immediately burst out.

"Cool! Can you take on ten Grimm at once? Uncle Viz says any hunter could do that." Saber's grin widened.

"Please, I can take a hundred, easy." The boy's excitement grew.

"Have you ever gone into a Grimm nest?"

"Yep. I even fought in a cave a few times. Next question."

"Did you ever kill a nevermore?"

"Fought three at once. Tough birds, those ones."

"What's your weapon? A gun, or a spear?" Saber leaned conspiratorially towards the boy, who followed suit. Looking around, he whispered to the boy.

"I can you show right now, if you want." The boy nodded enthusiastically, and Saber stood up. As he was standing up he turned around put his hand close to his body. As he stood up to his full height he pulled his hand back out, a sword materializing in it, and held it out towards the ceiling. The sword finished materializing, small flames licking the blade as it did so.

The sword was slightly shorter than a hand-and-a-half sword, with a leather wrapped handle and a crossguard angled towards the blade. Saber proudly held the blade high, and Carmine heard both several sounds of awe, as well as more than a few yelps of surprise, including one from the woman next to him. Saber kneeled down to the boy again and held out the sword. The boy grasped the handle and fumbled slightly with the long weapon, but kept it in his hand.

"Best part is, it's _on_ _fire_. Useful against the Grimm, believe me," Saber said to the boy, ruffling his hair. He grabbed the sword again and it dematerialized, and the other patrons returned to their previous activities. The boy nodded and ran off to another part of the cafe. Turning back to the woman, Carmine saw a look of surprise on her face.

"You… You're huntsmen? So that means you're going to Beacon, right?" Carmine nodded. She looked conflicted for a moment, but the look soon disappeared as she gave another polite smile.

"Alright then, take a seat and your order will be brought to you soon." Carmine followed Saber as they walked the open air portion of the business. Taking a relatively excluded table, Carmine turned his attention to his servant.

"You think it was smart to take out your noble phantasm?" Saber leaned back in his chair and scratched his stubble.

"Didn't detect any servants nearby, and the it pleased the kid."

"It also scared half the cafe." Saber shrugged.

"Thought you people would be used to seeing Grimm, what with only having a single city to fall back to." Carmine leaned back in his chair as well, preparing himself to once again inform his servant.

"Most of them haven't seen a Grimm in person until two weeks ago, and you pull a sword out of nowhere when they weren't expecting it. They're not like you and me," he said. Saber conceded the point with a nod.

"True, still, any servant bold enough to attack us in broad daylight deserves what they receive fighting me," he said proudly. Carmine sighed, and the two sat in silence for a minute before the employee from before came to their table, a glass of water in one hand and a mug in the other. The man from inside pushing a large cask on a dolly towards them. He stopped at the table, his cap at the woman and heading back inside.

Carmine took the glass and drank from it, watching as Saber went to the cask and filled his mug with the alcohol. He drank from it, taking a few seconds to process the taste, and gave a satisfied nod.

"Not as strong as I'm used to, but still good. Thank you," he said to the woman. She nodded and moved to go back inside. She stopped at the door, turning around and making her way back to the table, making Carmine raise an eyebrow.

"Yes?" He said. She didn't speak for a few seconds, finally speaking up as he was about to ask what she wanted.

"You're going to Beacon, right? That's what you said inside," she said hesitantly. He nodded, not taking his eyes off her.

"Then can you give a message to someone for me?" He looked over at Saber, who was going for his second mug and then back towards her.

"I could, but I'm from Shade, not Beacon, so no promises I'll know who're talking about." She shook her head.

"It won't matter, I can help with that. I just want you to deliver a message to a student for me."

"What for?" At this point Saber took an interest in the conversation, leaning forward in his chair.

"A student saved me and that boy during The Breach, and I didn't get a chance to thank him. He's a student from Beacon, his friend helped him out. His name's Cardin, I think? He has orange hair, wears armor with a bird on the chest." He nodded, filing the information away for later.

"I'll see what I can do. Just a thanks right?"

"Mhm," she nodded.

"Alright, got it." She nodded once again and headed inside. Carmine looked over at his servant, who had an interested look on his face.

"So, we're going to mingle with the students? Good, I'd like to see what the kingdoms have come up with since my time." At that, the two stayed silent and finished their drinks. Looking at the clock in the building, Carmine got up from his seat.

"We should get going before we're late." He looked over at the dolley with the mostly full cask.

"And that's going to be a hassle to keep steady on the bullhead," he sighed. Saber patted him on the shoulder, taking the dolley and went in the direction towards Beacon, Carmine following behind him.

* * *

 _15 Days after The Breach, Beacon Bullhead, Vale_

Cobalt Mauve opened her eyes to an empty room. She sat up in the small bunk the bullhead had in every room onboard, stretching her back of crinks and knots. Looking around the small room, the first year noted that her team was nowhere to be found. Thumbing through her scroll, she found a message from her teammate, Ross.

 _You were still asleep when everybody woke up, decided not wake you and the guys and I went to talk with the others. Captain said we'll be landing in an hour. -Ross_

 _P.S. I stopped Svanrig from drawing on your face with a sharpie. You can punch him when you catch up with us._ Cobalt silently thanked the red-haired girl and got up from her bunk, moving to the even smaller bathroom. Checking herself in the mirror, she was glad to find that Ross hadn't lied.

She took another look to clean herself up and once satisfied moved out the bathroom. She looked down at her hand, the red seals contrasting with her tan complexion and thought of ways to hide the seals.

 _The gloves can work well enough, but I lose those than the other masters will easily spot me,_ she thought.

 _Then it's a good thing you have an excellent servant, isn't it?_ Cobalt startled at the sound of her servant responding. Her words did nothing to reassure her, however.

 _It won't do us much good if the others decide to pair up against us. I doubt we could handle an Archer and Saber at once._

 _True, but that should give you more incentive think your strategy through, shouldn't it?_ Cobalt ignored her servant, not wanting to argue early in the morning. She checked the time, and with the message being sent a half-hour decided on finding her team. She grabbed her scroll and headed out to find her team.

She went into the hallway, taking time to stare out of one of the many windows on the bullhead. The distant city of Vale looked back at her, contrasting with the swaths of farms and forest they were traveling over, reminding her of a lighthouse in the middle of a storm.

 _Sure is different than Mistral,_ she thought, already feeling homesick. She was as surprised as the other teams in Haven when their headmaster had informed them of more teams leaving for Vale. But the announcement gave her a convenient reason to bring her team along with her to Vale for the Grail War. Preparing herself for the doubtlessly long search ahead of her, she continued making her way through the ship.

* * *

 _15 Days after The Breach, Beacon mess hall, Beacon_

Cinder studied the mess hall, memorizing the faces of the teams entering and eating in the hall. Emerald and Mercury were off wandering the hall, making small talk with the other students and keeping up appearances. Watching Emerald converse with a second year team, Cinder's mind drifted over to wonder where their fourth member had gone to.

 _As long as she doesn't bring the wrong type of attention, she can do whatever she wants,_ she thought. The quiet girl had been added to their plan at Torchwick's insistence, as a form of insurance that Cinder wouldn't leave him at the mercy of the authorities. She hadn't minded, the girl proving to be much more competent than what she initially expected, and giving her free reign over her activities had given Cinder more time to focus on other subjects.

She looked at her hand, where the diamond portion of her command seals had faded out, examining the design thoughtfully. She hadn't wanted to use the command seal this early in the war but her servant had forced her hand at the summoning.

 _I won't fail you, not like the others,_ she promised. She had left Vale during the week after their plan had started early, to the forests far outside the borders of the kingdom. There, she had consulted the hive, intent on explaining the issue that had occurred. But the hive had other plans for her, it seemed, as instead of the punishment she expected, she had been graced with her new servant.

 _Of course you won't, not with Berserker at your side._ Cinder felt a familiar presence enter her mind and relaxed, the entity providing her a small relief from the dealings of the people in Vale.

 _Yes, I can't lose this war, not with Berserker…_ Berserker had given her trouble, but the command seal would handle that issue. The early attack had put a dent into her plans, and the loss of some of the stolen dust on the train had put their allies into a precarious situation, but with Berserker…

Berserker would render all those problems moot. After all, what was an army of street thugs and dust to a servant, especially one as old as hers? Taking comfort from that fact, she squashed the mad voice of her servant and kept it muted. No need to lose composure in front of the other students.

She returned her attention back to Emerald and Mercury, content to watch their progress and enhance her new plan of attack. Yes, Berserker would take care of it all.

* * *

 _15 Days after The Breach, Headmaster's office, Beacon_

Taking a sip of his coffee, Ozpin reviewed the footage of the previous night that was captured by the campus security cameras. The footage had revealed nothing out of the ordinary, students going to their dorms and finishing projects, and then showed an empty school. Nothing interesting until a multitude of cameras lost connection, their screens only showing static. The affected cameras covered a portion of the academy, near the library and outer grounds, and all of them had gone out within seconds of each other. Ozpin continued to sip his coffee and concentrate on the footage when he heard the elevator open with a soft ding.

"You wanted to see me, Oz?" The figure of James Ironwood walked out of the elevator as Glynda Goodwitch followed behind him. Ozpin nodded, turning a scroll to show the pair the security footage.

"Yes, it seems someone or something has decided to interfere with our cameras last night. All of the camera feeds on that scroll went out within seconds of each other, and each of them were in a specific area of the academy." Ironwood stroked his chin as he studied the the scroll, Glynda moving over to Ozpin's side.

"And the grounds outside the school was found damaged early in the morning," Ozpin finished. Ironwood looked up from the scroll, his eyes meeting Ozpin's.

"Do you think it was the woman from before?"

"Possibly, or maybe an accomplice of hers."

"I believe we should be more worried about what caused that damage. The pavement was destroyed in multiple places and the earth was utterly mutilated," Glynda piped in. Ozpin nodded in agreement.

"Whatever fought there could still possibly be in the school, and endanger the students. So far, our story is that an altercation between two individuals caused the damage, and we shouldn't mention this to any of the faculty."

"When does Qrow arrive? His help might shed some light on this," Ironwood asked. Ozpin hit a button on the console on his desk, opening a new screen on the scroll.

"He should be arriving today, in the afternoon. I spoke to him about this earlier in the morning," he said. Ironwood set the scroll on the desk and made his way back to the elevator.

"I can increase security for the festival, see if I can send some of my men into the crowd and find something," he called over his shoulder. He stopped in the elevator and turned around to face Ozpin.

"You should send huntsmen to scour the city for leads. I have a feeling this won't be the end of strange vents." The doors closed and Ozpin stared at the feeds again. Glynda made her way to the elevator as well.

"I'll see to the cameras, see if I can recover anything. Headmaster," she finished, and went down the elevator. Ozpin remained quiet and continued to look at the feeds well past the impromptu meeting had ended.

* * *

A/N: Hey there, I'm _really_ sorry for taking so long to update, but I had to deal with other things and had been dealing with a little writer's block. Originally I decided this chapter would only follow on Cardin and a bit of Weiss, but I changed it to introduce most of the other masters, and to have a small Ozpin scene, just to get it out of the way for future chapters. Next chapter will focus mostly on Cardin, so if you like that stuff then you have something to look forward to.

Caster is pretty obviously Rin, and for her design I pretty much designed it off this picture, which belongs to Elleybug on tumblr and I'm only using it as a reference as to what she looks like.

Edit: Some weird stuff happened, had to repost the chapter, sorry. I'll see if I can post the link to the picture on my profile.

Im a guest: Ok?

idea gethe: I picked Cardin because I wanted to make a story that had a different premise than other stories in this crossover. And there was a catalyst, the broken blades in the rom he was summoned. Rin's pendant was a personal thing for Shirou and if he became a hero on his own merits like it's assumed in this fic, than his blades would be the most obvious catalyst for him due their importance him to him. And Jaune wants to be the Hero archetype, wants to be the guy everybody looks up to and respects, imo. Ruby is probably more like Shirou because she wants to help and save people despite how naive or childish it might be. At least, that's how I see it.

TheHokageNaruto: Thanks for the review, I'm thinking of possible reactions right now, actually.

As always, please review and give feedback, and I'll try to update as soon as possible.

Updated Servant info:

True Name: Rin Tohsaka

Class: Caster

Alignment: Neutral Good

Stats:

STR: D MGC: A

END: D LCK: B

AGI: D N.P.:C

True Name: ?

Class: Berserker

Alignment: Mad

Stats:

STR: A+ MGC: C

END: B LCK: B

AGI: A N.P.: B+

True Name: ?

Class: Saber

Alignment: ?

Stats:

STR: A MGC: B

END: B LCK: A

AGI: C N.P.: B

True Name: ?

Class: Rider

Alignment: ?

Stats:

STR: C MGC: C

END: B LCK: C

AGI: B N.P.: B

Words: 6,155

Pages: 14


	5. Chapter 5: Calm Before The Storm

Chapter 5: Calm Before The Storm

 _15 Days after The Breach, Team CRDL dorm, Beacon_

Cardin opened his eyes, squinting at the morning sun peeking through the dorm window. He raised an arm to block the light and stayed still in his bed for a minute, gathering his will to wake up. Groggily, he raised his arm to block the light, sitting up on his bed and taking a look around the room. The rest of his team weren't there, and he guessed that they had gone to the cafeteria with the other students and simply left him be.

 _After last night, I don't blame them trying to act normally,_ he thought. Checking the time at 7:50, he moved over to the closet and grabbed a clean uniform. He paused as he saw his clothes from the other night were folded and tucked neatly on the floor. He pushed it out of his mind and instead got dressed and left his room.

The hall was empty as Cardin made his way towards the cafeteria. Most of the students left him be, mostly out of indifference, and Cardin returned the favor and instead looked around the room for his team. He made his way through the spaces in between the tables, ignoring the stares and glares he received from some of the other students.

 _I get the feeling you're not well like master,_ Archer said. Cardin just pressed on around the room.

 _It wasn't too long ago that I was bully here. I've been trying to make amends, but it's slow going._ Archer hummed in thought.

 _I see. What kind of bullying are we talking about?_ Cardin stopped moving at the words, a strong sense of shame overcoming him. He stood there for a few seconds without answering, trying to find a way to voice his thoughts.

 _Small stuff, I guess. Annoying people in class, acting arrogant and being too aggressive in sparring in combat. Though it got a little physical sometimes, but never anything serious thankfully,_ he finished.

 _Such as?_

 _Pulled a few ears, shoved some others. No beatings or anything,_ he finished. He waited for the eventual admonishment that he had received from his first few apologies, steeling himself.

 _Well… I don't like bullies, but the important part is that you're trying to better, right? That's what should matter, not what you've done in the past, which isn't that bad compared to what I've seen._ Cardin blinked at his servant's words, not expecting such a positive sentiment from someone he hadn't known for even a day.

 _Thanks, I guess. It's nice to know someone believes in me._

 _It's nothing, master._ His servant's voice then filled with a bit of mirth.

 _Though you should keep moving. You're starting to get stares._

 _That_ shook Cardin from his thoughts and he felt heat in his cheeks as he realized that indeed he was starting to get noticed by some of the students. Keeping his gaze on the ground he left the area and renewed his search, eventually spotting them at a lone end of a table. He walked over and waved his hand.

"Morning," he greeted. Sky nodded silently, Russel responded with a sleepily raised hand, his head resting on the table, and Dove gave him a polite welcome from his studying. All three had breakfast, and he happily saw that they got him his own plate, which he started digging into as he sat down with them.

"You guys wake up early?" He asked, trying to break the silence between them. Sky paused his fork in midair.

"You were out cold and I decided to let you sleep. Probably should've left you a message on your scroll, but we had to get Rus moving and out of bed. Ain't that right Rus?" He said, clapping Russel on his shoulder. Russel jerked back and shook his head in surprise, but his stayed mostly shut and he flicked off Sky as he put his head back down. Continuing with his meal, he pointed a hand at Dove.

"Dove here's been studying who we might be up against. So far we've guessed that Lancer is probably a schnee based on what you told us last night."

"And an old too. Not many Schnees have combat training on par with huntsmen, or at least the recent generations of Schnees don't. And we obviously can't guess what the others are without meeting them," Dove interjected. Cardin nodded, glad that his team was taking some initiative.

 _Just hope they stay this serious. Lancer was fast enough for me to not even see her, let alone fight._

"Any ideas on who might be a master?" He asked. Dove shrugged and Sky said nothing, chewing on his food. Cardin decided to question Archer on the topic instead, raising a finger to his team.

 _Archer, you have any ideas?_

 _Perhaps some could be from the other kingdoms? Look for the command seals on them, some might get careless and flaunt it or decide to not hide it if they're pride is large enough. Either way, every master will come here to fight, so we'll meet them all sooner or later._ Cardin relayed the information back to his team.

"So we might get enemies from the other kingdoms then. Great," Sky muttered. Dove merely took it in stride and kept up his research.

"Well at least we don't have to go around the world looking for them, at least. That's one good thing about the tournament," Cardin responded. He was going to continue when a voice from behind interrupted him.

"There you are! You've got a lot to explain about you know, showing up in the middle of the night _bleeding_ , acting really strange and just leaving as soon as you got there!" Velvet Scarlatina's angry form walked up to the table, a tray in her hands. Cardin gaped slightly at the interruption, caught off guard by her forwardness. The rest of CRDL mirrored his reaction save Russel, who kept his head down.

"Hello there Ms. Velvet," Dove replied first, returning his attention back to his scroll.

"...Hey," Sky said hesitantly, unsure of what to say. Russel was the last to respond, meekly raising a hand.

"Yo," he said quietly. For a moment Velvet tore her attention from Cardin to give a curious look to Russel's tired form, before returning it back to Cardin. He leaned away slightly, but never broke eye contact.

"Hey there, Velvet. Good morning to you too," he snarked. She huffed and glared at him in annoyance.

"Very funny, now answer my questions. What happened last night? You came to our dorm bleeding and then acted all weird and strange."

"Didn't know cared that much," he replied honestly. That seemed to annoy her even more.

"Of course I care! We're friends, remember?"

' _Friend' might be a bit strong for us,_ he thought.

 _More like… acquaintances, or people-trying-to-work-past-the-past,_ he thought dryly.

"I asked your team earlier, but they didn't say anything and you weren't here, so I've been waiting for the past half-hour waiting to ask you," she said. He looked behind her to find her team sitting across the room. Coco was watching the table carefully, Yatsuhashi was eating his breakfast, and Fox was… doing something. He looked back at his teammates.

"And you decided not to tell me this…?"

"You would've found out soon enough anyway," Russel replied, finally lifting his head from the table, and Cardin returned his attention to Velvet.

"Well, uh, I'm sorry for making you worry," he replied dumbly, to which she huffed annoyedly.

"That's it? Fine, can you at least explain the bleeding part?" Her face became more serious as her voice lowered so only the four at the table could hear.

"Did you get in a fight? Was that the reason?" Cardin gave a look to the pair of his team still paying attention. They both looked away at something else, leaving him alone to deal with the problem.

"Yeah, something like that," he said, hoping his false guilty tone was convincing. He felt a twinge of regret as Velvet's shoulders fell with disappointment.

"But it's not like I started it or anything," he added hastily. Her dourness lessened somewhat, before she examined his shoulder.

"What about your wound? Is it patched up?"

"Yeah, we used the first aid kit in our dorm. Look, I'm fine alright? All that happened was a small fight, I'll keep clear of the other person, ok?"

"Did your fight have anything to do with the destruction outside?" At that all the members of CRDL, sans Russel, stiffened.

 _Archer, why did we forget about that?_

 _If I recall, you ran off to talk to this girl. I only had time to repair the library and the wall._ Sky sent a concerned look to Cardin, and Dove attempted to pay attention to his scroll, nervously tapping at the screen.

"That's the first I've heard about this," he said after a short pause. Velvet continued, seemingly not having caught the tension in the air.

"Well… if you say so." At that she looked over Dove's shoulder and frowned slightly.

"Did you get into a fight with Weiss? Because Dove seems to have a keen interest in the Schnee family history," she said with an accusatory tone. Cardin tensed up even more, but fortunately Dove came to the rescue.

"Oh this? I was just studying for the tournament, you know, know your enemy and all that?" He sheepishly replied, rubbing the back of his head. Sky sighed in relief, visibly relaxing and Cardin sent Dove a grateful smile.

 _Nice work Bronzewing._ Velvet took a seat at the table and dug into her food. At this point Russel was slowly waking up more and more, and sent Cardin a questioning gaze at the sight of Velvet. He shrugged in response as Velvet spoke once more.

"So, what's your team doing today? It's the last day before the tournament."

"We were going to train, have some last minute practice before the first round of matches," Sky replied evenly. Cardin's stomach grumbled, and he began to eat as well.

"Mhm. Well my team is doing their own thing for the day. I can help you train if you want," Velvet offered. Cardin spoke up before his teammates could reply.

"Sure, we can meet you in half an hour at the training rooms. Now I think your team wants to speak with you," he said quickly, pointing over his shoulder at where CFVY was sitting. Velvet looked a little miffed at his quick dismissal, but nodded and went back to her team. Russel gave a him a dead look.

"You sure that was smart? She might think something's up."

"And she'll think something even stranger is going on if we keep to ourselves and keep dodging questions. This way she'll stay off our backs later on. We can't afford to drag in other people," Cardin argued.

"And if she doesn't? You've been seeing a lot more of her these past few weeks. What if we can't keep her involved?" Sky shot back. Cardin mulled over the words silently.

"Well, what if we introduce her to Archer?" He quickly held up his hands to placate the immediate surprise from his teammates.

"Now before you jump to conclusions, hear me out. We were going to train today anyway for the tournament, and since Archer is a famous hero, I thought why not have him critique our style? And to make Velvet get off our backs for a bit, she'll come too," he reasoned. Seeing no resistance to what he had said so far, he continued.

"So, why not just introduce Archer as a hunter trying to help us? That way she already knows about him in case we change plans later, we don't have to mention the war _and_ we get the help of both our peer and a famous warrior." His team looked at one another for a few seconds, not saying a word between them. Russel broke the silence and put his face in his hands.

"This is a shit idea, you know that? She got pissed for what she thought was a fight, what do you think she'll do if she knows we could all die?" He sighed once more.

"But it's probably better to get it out of the way now. I'm in."

"I concur. We can benefit from having someone who knows about our situation later on," chimed Dove. Sky shrugged his shoulders.

"You could just tell her behind our backs anyway, so better this way," he reasoned.

 _What do you think Archer?_

 _Hmm… not ideal, and I don't relish potentially bringing in those that aren't involved...But it does make logical sense. I'll agree to it if you promise not to intentionally drag her into it._

 _Agreed._ The rest of breakfast went by silently, CRDL finishing their meals and heading to the sparring rings.

* * *

 _15 Days after the Breach, Beacon sparring facilities_

"Hyah!" Shirou silently observed Cardin's mace as it connected with the training bot. The overhead swing connected with the bots head, which to its credit didn't budge much from the impact. From what he gathered from the boys, these were new to the school, based off of the Atlas mechs and meant for repeated sparring use and so was built out of a sturdier material and with better craftsmanship.

Cardin turned his body around to face a new bot, bringing his mace up for a backhanded swing, but instead caught the bots parry, his mace flying away. Following the change in direction, he turned a full 360 degrees and used the momentum to carry his to his opponents chest, denting the metal and causing the bot to fly backwards.

"Your technique is good, and you adapt well, but you're too slow. A good opponent can strike you before your hit connects," Shirou commentated. Cardin brought his mace to his side and nodded, panting slightly. The team had gone to the ring earlier than expected and they had been training for the past ten minutes nonstop. Shirou turned his attention to the Sky and Dove, who were teaming up against multiple bots and they seemed to be handling themselves well.

"Dove, Sky, your teamwork is good, but it seems that you're emphasizing Dove's offense too much. Try using Sky's spear to keep them at a distance and trap them at a distance." The two boys grunted in affirmation, trying out the new style. He at last looked towards Russel, who was going against a bot outfitted with a warhammer, using his speed and agility to dodge its attacks and striking at its limbs.

"And Russel, keep using your agility. Try attacking harder though, it'll save you more energy in the long run."

"Got it!" Shirou took a sweeping view of the four boys, studying how they handled the advice. Cardin's attacks grew faster and came in shorter intervals, but it seemed that they were less powerful, if the large overhead status screen was anything to go by. He took some time to review the team's weapons once more and devise new strategies for them to work on.

Cardin's mace was a relatively simple weapon, having a smooth shaft with a good grip, a flanged head and a dust crystal at the center. The length wasn't a concern for Cardin, as although his strikes were slow, his handling wasn't. What really irked Shirou was the amount of unknown materials that made up the weapon. Unknown metals and dust were the main components of the mace, making tracing the weapon rather difficult for him, though he wagered with some time he could come up with a substitute for the metal.

Sky's halberd was next, being slightly more complex. Fortunately, it _was_ made up of something Shirou could analyze. Steel for the shaft and axe head, and a hollow tip at the front that allowed for large rifle rounds to be fired from. A trigger and magazine slot was near the end of the spear for easy access, along with a button to manage the length of the halberd,and Shirou knew that with some more training Sky could effectively manage the flow of battle in most situations.

Dove's rifle was much the same as the other weapons, being a simple steel sword combined with a revolver system at the hilt and a compactable blade system as well. Based on the tiny marks on the bots, his bullets did little damage, but he was by far the most skilled fighter of the team, using the shots to halt or stumble the bots and using it as an opening to attack. A good weapon for a good fighter.

And finally, Russel's daggers. Made of an unknown metal, they had a cylinder for dust at the hilt, though he didn't seem to be using it. The design was unremarkable for the other weapons in this world, and having no experience with dust, Shirou decided to refrain from suggesting strategies involving it.

The overall impression from the team was a sense of simplicity and practicality, something he could understand and envy slightly from his years using noble phantasms and prana-generated arrows.

His musings were interrupted by the door opening. He spotted the girl from earlier enter the room casually, startling when she spotted him.

"Oh! I didn't know anyone else would be here," she said.

"I'm Velvet, a second year. You are?"

"Shirou Emiya, hunter," he replied. He decided that telling her his name would be harmless, and he doubted students would spend time looking up random huntsmen in their spare time. She walked next to him and studied the boys as they fought, taking notes on her scroll.

"Your friend's here Cardin," he called out. Cardin blocked a strike with his mace and looked towards the pair. He nodded to Velvet before turning his attention back to the fight. Velvet looked up from her notes and tapped him lightly.

"How's the training going?"

"Good, I've been critiquing their styles. I assume you know how they fight?" She nodded and looked to her notes.

"I brainstormed some ideas from memory. Cardin needs to work on speed, Sky on aura strength and Russel and Dove on endurance."

"And they all need to work on teamwork," she finished. Shirou made a noise of agreement, crossing his arms and watched the team. Velvet silently took notes beside him, and they watched the team continue fighting for half a minute before she spoke up.

"Cardin seems to be more aggressive than usual," Velvet noted.

"That's because I encouraged him to be," Shirou replied. Velvet pursed her lips, looking visibly unpleased with the decision.

"Professors Goodwitch and Port have emphasised caution in a fight. I think it would make his training more difficult trying to learn a different way of fighting." Shirou shrugged lightly.

"In my experience taking risks has usually benefitted me, helped me win fights I wouldn't have won being cautious. Besides, it shouldn't be that difficult to learn with the help of an expert." The faunus shook her head slightly and looked up from her scroll.

"Taking risks in a fight is one thing, but with huntsmen and younger students, these risks eventually turn into reckless decisions. And those can be fatal against the Grimm."

"I'm not telling him to be reckless, though. Only suggesting that he take advantage of his size and strength in a more aggressive manner. Wouldn't you advise the same?"

"I would. It just seems to be unnecessarily dangerous to me," she said after a while. Shirou nodded in understanding.

"I can understand your concern for a friend, but don't be afraid to be more direct. It's the entire team's strength, given their average defense." The pair continued to observe the team and give out advice and suggestions for the next few minutes, and CRDL steadily began improving against each round of fighting, eventually being able to beat the bots at their current fighting skill. Cardin called for a break, resting with his team and Shirou took a minute to study the faunus next to him.

Admittedly, the idea of a faunus had perplexed him at first. He had known many strange and weird things from the Association, but this puzzled him for quite a while. His knowledge of Remnant history from the grail was bare bones at best, but he knew that faunus and humans had been in conflict for decades, if not centuries, and had been both the victim and propagator of violence.

So, given that information Shirou would assume that the cause of his masters bullying was related to her being faunus. He didn't really care much about that though, as he said he was just glad his master was mending his past ways.

Though it did bring up an interesting question..

"Say Velvet, what's the story between you and Cardin? He doesn't have a great reputation around here." The girl looked at him in confusion.

"What story?" She asked perplexedly.

"How you became friends. I know he was something of a bully," he admitted.

"Oh, that. Well, it started off kinda weirdly."

* * *

 _9 Hours after The Breach, Vale General Hospital_

Velvet quickly walked through the crowded hospital halls, making room for the nurses and doctors hurriedly running past with the wounded. She made her way to the front desk, which was currently occupied by frantic nurses. She stepped up to the desk and cleared her throat, which attracted the attention of a nurse moving to and fro between computers.. Taking a look at her attire, he stopped and went over to her.

"Yeah, what do you need? And make it quick please, I've got a lot to do," he said irritably.

"I'm a student from Beacon, I'm looking for another student, last name Winchester, has stab wounds in his stomach," she replied politely. She forgave the man's tone, they were all under a lot of pressure at the moment. He nodded and sat at a computer, typing fast. It was less than a minute before he came back.

"Room 209, 2nd floor. Is that all?"

"Yes, thank you." She turned around and headed for the nearest set of stairs and traveling up to the second floor. Once on the second floor she made her to the room, knocking lightly and entering the room without waiting for a reply. Cardin was still unconscious, but his breathing was steady and normal. What she didn't expect was the other members of CRDL to be present.

"Hello Ms. Scarlatina," Dove called, twisting in his chair to face her. He raised a hand in greeting, which she hesitantly raised in kind. Sky was sitting in another chair and had his feet propped on another, nodding when he saw her but otherwise stayed silent. Russel held an ice pack to his face, claw marks and scratches covering his arms. A dark bruise covered one of his eyes.

"Hey," he said. He didn't turn to look at Velvet, who chalked it up to guilt at their earlier actions. Disregarding that thought, she turned to Dove.

"We were you guys? We haven't heard from you since the morning."

"We got separated at a junction a few hours after the attack began. We were getting people away from the Grimm into the shelters when another wave attacked. Must've lost sight of us in the chaos, cause Russel was gone when Sky and I got away," he explained. Sky took this as his moment to take over.

"We ran into another team after a while, went to another shelter. After the attack we ran into Russel and we asked around for Cardin. And here we are," he finished. Velvet took a chair and sat in it, ignoring the looks she received.

"Well, I have something to talk with him about, so I'm staying until he wakes up. Any problems?" The boys said nothing, Dove and Sky taking it in stride. Russel didn't acknowledge the statement, but kept his stare on Cardin. They stayed like that for the next couple of hours, Russel leaving an hour after she arrived.

She passed the time speaking to Dove and Sky, and she learned quite a bit about them. Dove's father is a wealthy merchant, moving products between the kingdoms. He was the third child of a family of five, and joined Beacon to put his skill to use without being a mercenary. Sky's father was a baker and his mother a waitress, scrapping their money together to send him to Beacon, where he always wanted to go as a child.

Eventually they had to leave, and the next day she returned. This time only Dove came by, Sky and Russel going around the city looking for any way to help out the returning huntsmen. Velvet and her team considered doing the same, but after seeing how the huntsmen and militia were handling the situation and the lack of other teams doing work, decided to just head to the hospital again.

The day played out much the same, and by halfway through the third day, this time alone, she went to the hospital cafeteria, grabbing a small snack. Walking through the halls, she was surprised to come upon the bandaged forms of team RWBY, all members being bed-ridden but otherwise conscious. She briefly said hello to the team and made her way back to the room.

Opening the door she noticed a man sitting at the bedside, wearing a priests' clothes. Velvet stood there awkwardly, the man not having noticed her. She cleared her throat and began speaking.

"I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something," she apologised. The man turned around, standing up when he spotted her.

"Oh, I didn't realize someone else was visiting. If you're staying for a while, please take a seat." He grabbed one of the nearby chairs and offered it to her. She accepted, thanking him quietly and sat in it, with the man sitting down in his and held out his hand.

"James Winchester, pleasure to meet you. You are?" Velvet took his hand and shook.

"Velvet Scarlatina. I'm a student at Beacon. Is Cardin your…?" James looked bemused at her unspoken question.

"Son? No, I'm his uncle. It's nice to know he has some other friends to visit him, especially in these troubled times. I know he can be a bit difficult to handle at times."

"I wouldn't exactly call us friends," she muttered under her breath. James seemed to not hear her remark, or otherwise ignored it as he continued speaking.

"I would've visited sooner, but my work at the church has kept me busy these past few days. Many are without homes and many more gather to the church for shelter."

"How bad is it out there? I haven't checked on the damage for a while," she responded. He shrugged slightly leaning back in his chair.

"Could be worse, but it isn't good. The militia is sorting through the rubble and bodies, and I have at least 10 huntsmen patrolling the church at any given time." Velvet nodded, leaning back in her chair as well and sipped on her drink.

"My team was sent to guard one of the shelters near the riverfront. We must've fought off dozens of Grimm in the first hour," she said. James nodded as if he was expecting such an answer.

"I believe the recorded number of dead is in the thousands, and the hole they came through is still open and under guard." He sighed and leaned forward in his chair.

"But enough about that. I want to know why you came here to visit my nephew. You're a faunus, and although I love my brother, he can be a bit...judgemental with his views. And I know Cardin picked up on some of those views." Velvet took a minute to respond, instead turning to look at Cardin's unconscious form.

"We had a rough start, but he's stopped any bullying. And I came to talk to him about something I saw, is all." Cardin began to stir, drawing the two occupants attention. He opened his eyes, slowly at first, and then fully. Still dazed, he attempted to sit up, only to quickly put a hand on his stomach, laying back down. James chuckled at the sight.

"Still raring to go as soon you wake up. Just like your cousin and father, Cardin." Cardin turned his head to the source of the voice, his eyes widening as he figured out its source.

"Uncle James! It's good to see you're alright." He propped himself up a little against the pillows, giving a sigh of relief and dropped his hand from his stomach.

"Speaking about being alright, why am I here? And how's my team, and the city?"

"Your team's fine for the moment, as is the city. As for why you're here, you should ask your friend here." Motioning over to Velvet, he stood up and made his way to the door.

"She mentioned talking to you about something, so I'll leave you two alone for the day. But I'll make sure to visit later, alright?" Waving over his shoulder, he left the room, leaving Cardin and Velvet alone. Cardin kept his gaze on anywhere except Velvet, shame evident in his face. An uncomfortable silence filled the air.

"So...how's your team?" He finally ventured at last.

"They're doing fine, nothing but a few scratches and bruises. We spent most of the day guarding the shelters until the other huntsmen and militia got a grip on the horde. I heard your team got split up." Cardin nodded, the awkwardness dissipating slightly.

"Yeah, we were helping citizens get into the shelters when a wave of Grimm got to us. We've been training for most of the last half of first semester, but we got lost in the fighting." A few more minutes of uneasy silence came between them, Cardin not knowing what to do, Velvet not knowing how to broach the subject she wanted to talk about. Cardin cleared his throat at last.

"This may, uh, sound crazy _but_ , I think I heard when I was going on unconscious," he said, embarrassed.

"Do you, uh, have any clue why? I don't think it was a hallucination or anything." Velvet nodded, and quickly formulated what she was going to say.

"I was there at the fight. That explosion that hit the Grimm? That was me."

"Glad to see someone was watching my back."

"Mhm. Listen, I wanted to talk about something. From that fight actually." Cardin perked up a bit, looking confused. He leaned forward grimacing slightly, but motioned her to continue.

"I saw you when you fought that alpha. You saved that woman and child there, and I wanted to know why. I mean you haven't been that kind to many in the past, and you risked your life over a faunus…" she trailed off. He seemed to take a little offense at her words.

"Hey, I might be a bully, but I'm still a hunter first and foremost. A lot's changed since first semester, and I won't just abandon someone to die," he replied heatedly. She held up her hands in appeasement.

"I didn't mean to imply that, it just seemed...odd, is what I'm trying to say." He sighed, leaning back against his pillows and looked out the window on the opposite side of the room.

"Look...I admit, I thought about running when I first saw the alpha charging. But then, I saw the two of them afraid and expecting to die, and I knew that I could stop it, that I could _save them_." He sighed once more.

"I just, I don't know had an urge to save them. You get what I'm saying?" He turned back towards her, his eyes meeting hers. She nodded in agreement.

"By the way, how are they?"

"I managed to get them to the shelter, while carrying you. I have to say, you're _really_ heavy with your armor." The two had a small chuckle.

"I know this is really late but, I really am sorry for what I've done. To you and others. I've been trying to mend bridges, but it's been hard work."

"I can bet. But it seems like you're trying to do better, that's gotta count for something right?" He snorted, resting his head on the pillows.

"Maybe, but it sure doesn't seem like it?"

"Well, I think that if you want to repair your image, then someone has to give you a chance." He snorted once more.

"And who would give me a chance? You?" She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms.

"Sure." At that Cardin gave her a credulous look and sat up in his bed. Leaning closer to her, he eyed her seriously.

"Are you pulling my chain? Cause it's a pretty low blow to pull on a guy." She easily met his stare.

"I meant what I said. I'm a forgiving sort, and if what you say is true, then this will be the best way to show the other first years you're serious about changing. The first years might have a hard time adjusting, but the upperclassmen will just brush it off. In my experience, fighting the Grimm takes precedent over bigotry." She thought it over for a second.

"Usually, at least." Cardin held his gaze for a few seconds, before nodding.

"Alright, what's your first piece of advice?" She held out her hand.

"Let's reintroduce ourselves, and learn about each other first. I'm Velvet." Cardin eyed her hand and slowly held his hand out. Though wounded, his grasp was firm and the two shook.

"I'm Cardin." The two spent the rest of the day talking and forging new bridges.

* * *

A/N: Hey there, sorry for the long update time, but I've been dealing with a busy schedule lately and I've been trying to balance that with other things. But I will put more time into this, so hopefully the next update will be in a couple of weeks instead of nearly a month. This chapter was supposed to be the last chapter not focusing on the Grail War for a while, so the next few chapters will be about the Grail War and include battles, as well introducing Assassin and interactions along with the masters. The tournament will be a part of the war, so be expecting that in the future, and again any feedback is welcome and appreciated.

I'm updating this late at night so I'm too tired to answer reviews at the moment.

Any ways, have a nice rest of Spring break and enjoy.

Pages: 13

Words: 5,948


	6. Chapter 6: Opening Moves

Chapter 6: Opening Moves

 _16 Days after The Breach, Amity Coliseum, Vale_

Cardin rested his mace on his shoulder, looking over at the team opposite of his own. The other team was a first year team from Atlas, which was plain for everyone in the stadium to see. Immaculate uniforms and rigid stances before battle made it obvious where they were from, and Cardin and his team took the time to rest before the match started.

Dove held his sword lightly to the side, his posture remaining calm and relaxed. Sky rested against his halberd and Russel toyed a little with his knives. Looking over the Atlesian team, Cardin took the time to study their weapons and review tactics. Two girls, two boys. One had a sword, possibly a shield, another had two knives, same as Russel. One of the boys had a what seemed to be a machine gun, with an elongated bayonet, which Cardin assumed was able to transform into a spear, and the last girl had a whip at her side.

"How much you want to bet that whip uses dust?" He said to his teammates.

"I'll take you up on that offer," Sky said. Cardin took another glance at the team.

"Alright, let's review strategy. If we're lucky we'll get something that can provide cover from that machine gun, but if we don't we're going to have to charge it. I can tank the fire, Russel you go straight for him. You don't have to take him out, just keep pressured enough that he can't shoot."

"Sky and Dove, you two keep the other members off him, make sure he has a straight shot at him." The others nodded.

"If we do get some cover from them, we split up into pairs, me and Russel and Dove with Sky. Try not to get into a dragged out fight, use hit and run tactics to whittle away their aura. If you get split up then run and regroup to the highest point of the field." The others nodded in understanding, maintaining their relaxed composure.

"What about Archer?" Dove questioned. Cardin shrugged in response, pointing his thumb behind him.

"I doubt he'll help us, at least until we find another servant. Don't expect any help is what I'm saying." Cardin looked out the corner of his eye behind him. He couldn't see him, but he didn't worry about it, Archer and him having hashed out a plan before the match.

 _Enjoying the view Archer?_

 _Mhm, I've got a clear line of sight of the arena. No sign of any master or servant though._

 _Got it, tell me if you see anything._ Cardin let out a small breath as the timer counted down to the start of the match. Holographic symbols appeared above the teams as random images were rattled off like a gambling machine. A few seconds later the symbols slowed and stopped, showing two symbols; One for a forest and one for a snowy mountain.

The timer let out a shrill buzz as both teams jumped into action. CRDL reacted slightly faster, the team splitting up into pairs, Cardin and Russel going to the forest and Sky and Dove towards the mountain. The other team followed close behind them, Machine Gun Man and Whip Girl following Cardin as he dodged behind the trees. Bullets whizzed past him, mulching up the trees around him, and he crouched behind a mostly intact tree.

Russel was to his right, crouching behind an intact tree and looked over to Cardin.

"Any ideas boss?" He shouted over the sound of the machine gun. The fire had died off as soon it began, and instead was a series of short bursts. Cardin peeked around the far side of his tree. Machine Gun Man was crouching, using a large stone as a gun rest, and Whip Girl was going around the far side towards Cardin. He turned back to Russel and pointed up towards the canopy.

"Go up! I'll be the distraction and you take him out!" Russel nodded and used his daggers to quickly mount the tree. The trunk was thick enough to hide him from the gunners view, and Cardin took another look. The gunner had stopped firing and instead was sweeping the area, and Whip Girl was gone. Taking a second to steel his nerves, he ran out into the open.

He heard machine gun fire coming towards him a split second later, tearing up the ground around him, some even bouncing off his aura. He paid it no mind, instead focusing on running in between the trees, using them for cover. The plan seemed to work, as he saw Russel moving towards the boy. He made another sprint across the forest, more bullets bouncing around him, ducking and weaving through the trees.

He let out a sigh of relief as the machine gunfire stopped, instead hearing the sounds of blades clashing. He stopped his sprint and turned around.

Russel swung his daggers madly at the boy, the blades turning into streaks of color as different dust cartridges were switched. Cardin began to make his way over to his teammate, preparing his mace for a swing. But before he could strike he felt pain spread across his face and his breath leave him as his body collided with the ground.

 _I just fell on my face in front of everybody in the four kingdoms,_ he noted dryly. His thoughts were interrupted by a sharp pain emanating from his leg, and he rolled over to check his surroundings.

"Fuck," he grunted, trying to catch his breath. A frost-covered whip was coiled around his leg and he followed it's cord back to the owner, who gave him a vicious smirk. She tugged back on the whip and he felt himself roll across the ground, and gasped in pain as his stomach impacted a tree.

Tears formed in his eyes at the pain, but he forced himself up to his knees. He attempted to stand, only to grasp at his side at sharp pain.

 _Broken rib? Great._ He took a knee, one hand nursing his side as his aura quickly began to mend the fractured bone, the other hand holding his mace at a guard position. Better to lose the mace than have the whip agitate his wound.

He strained his ears to catch any sign of the girl's whereabouts but all that greeted him was the sound of Russel's fight. His breath came back to him, and he took quick, light breaths, hoping to calm his heart. He took a glance at Russel, only to see that he was now being pushed back, the spearman having been able to use his ranged advantage.

 _Crap, I need to help him now,_ he thought. He hazarded another attempt to get up, and it seemed the combination of natural adrenaline and aura was enough to stop his side from hurting enough to impede him. He took a hesitant step forward, and having no pain, he picked picked up his pace, jogging to the quickly turning one-sided battle.

The Atlesian's back was to him and Cardin began to run at him. He took his mace in both hands and made a strong swing. His mace collided with the middle of the boy's back, propelling him forward into a tree. Russel gave him a thankful nod.

"Ideas?" the mohawked boy said.

"Take out Machine Gun, then focus on Whip Girl. Work from there," he answered quickly. His breaths became quicker and deeper, and he gave a hoarse cough. Russel looked concerned but quickly made his way over to the other boy, who was starting get up from his landing.

Russel made a smooth slash at the boy's back, stumbling him away from the tree. Digging his foot into the ground to stop his momentum, he turned to face the boy and made a cross with two slashes at his chest, one dagger with ice dust and the other with fire. The other boy was unable to catch his balance and Russel continued his assault, chipping away at his aura.

With a roar, he made four more slashes and ended his rapid attack with a stab towards the boy's stomach. He stumbled backwards, where Cardin was waiting with his mace at the ready. He slammed it into boy as he was turning to face Cardin, the fire crystal activating and sending him rolling across the ground.

"And another member from Team STEL is out of the match. I must say, that was painful to watch, don't you agree, professor?"

"I do indeed Barty. An excellent show of teamwork from the members of CRDL, using their strength and speed to isolate and disorient Samuel. But what of his partner?" Cardin looked at Russel in surprise, his face mirroring his own. Cardin turned back to where he had come from in time to see the whip come and hit Russel in the chest, a small explosion emanating from the tip and sending his partner flying into a nearby boulder.

Taking a look at the screen, he saw Russel's aura deplete until it was red, officially signifying his expulsion from the match. He didn't have much time to comprehend this, as the whip came towards him. He rolled to his side, narrowly dodging the whip and the icy spikes that came from it.

The girl came out from the treeline and rolled back her whip. Cardin raised his mace to send a jet of flame towards her, but his arm was caught by the whip instead. The girl rushed him, a dagger in her other hand, similar in design to Russel's. He felt the blade impact him in his shoulder, ice and frost covering his pauldron. His arm was brought low towards the ground, and the longer the whip was attached the hotter his arm became.

He saw the tendrils of flame coming off the whip and cursed, his metal gauntlet effectively turning into an oven. The girl went around Cardin's back and kicked at his knee, forcing him to kneel. He growled in frustration and pain as the heat on his arm continued to rise. His mind raced trying to search for a solution as the girl continually stabbed at his armor and brought his aura down.

 _I can try and rip it off…_ he thought. But everything he was taught at Beacon screamed at him to stop, to think of a different way. Every lesson revolved around the idea of conserving as much aura as possible, to be the ultimate survivor and live to fight another day. By trying to rip off the whip he would more than likely bring his aura dangerously close to elimination.

Currently, his aura was a little over half full, the healing and beatings taking its toll. He continued to wrestle between the two thoughts as he was hit more and more often.

Archer had told him to be aggressive during training, but surely being aggressive was different than headstrong, right?

 _He also said that the only reason he got out of fights alive was by risking it all,_ he thought. He didn't waste anymore time after that thought. Without thinking, he grabbed the whip coiled around his arms.

White hot pain spread across his hand and he nearly let go of his grip out of reflex. He grit his teeth and held on, the heat scalding his hand. He watched in dismay as the whip refused to budge at his first couple of tugs, seemingly growing tighter with every attempt.

Changing tactics, he moved his arms as much as possible in one direction, and instead of pulling it loose, attempted to rip off one section of the whip. A grin made it onto his face as the he felt the whip begin to break. He filled his hand with aura, doubling his strength, and heard a satisfying snap as the whip broke into two.

Keeping his grip, he yanked the cord forward, intent on flipping his opponent on the ground. To her credit, she kept herself grounded, instead breaking off from Cardin as he made a wild swing behind him with his mace.

He picked himself up and checked his hand. It was a bright shade of red, but his aura was already under way of healing any skin damage. He tentatively touched his mace hilt, only to fling his hand back as the pain flared up.

 _Got to do this one handed then._ He twirled his mace in one hand and checked the stadium screen on any updates. Sky had been eliminated, Dove was still going strong and they managed to take out one of their opponents, with dove having significantly more aura than his opponent.

Cardin's aura was much closer to the expulsion limit, being a little less than a quarter left and his opponent was around half.

 _The dangers of putting your aura into your equipment._

He uncoiled the remaining length of cord around his arm, it having quickly lost its heat after being ripped off. A dark scorch mark lay where the cord had been, and his gauntlet was slightly warped from the intense heat. He rolled his shoulders and wiped off the frost that had accumulated on it.

The girl across from him eyed him warily, keeping her knife raised in front of her. Cardin slowly approached her, waiting for her to make the first move. If she lost that much aura from her weapon breaking then her pool of aura must be limited.

 _All I need is a good hit or two._ She lunged towards him, her knife leaving a red trail in the air. He deftly dodged it and made a half-hearted swing, which she in turn dodged. He kept himself on the defensive, mostly dodging her attacks where he could and parrying the few he couldn't.

He kept retreating until they were covered under the shade of the forest canopy. Taking a step back from a sideways slash, he heard a faint click from behind him and instinctively jumped away. An explosion of dirt and fire appeared a second later, blocking his vision.

He held up his bad hand to shield his eyes and dodged from another lunge. From the corner of his eye he could make out faint lights and disturbed earth all around them.

 _Traps. Shit._

It explained why he wasn't attacked during his tag-team with Russel then. He would have to end it here then or risk getting blown up from a trap. He dug his foot into the ground and put a defensive stance with his mace.

He remembered a stance Archer had used back in his fight with Lancer, where he had made a gap in his defenses so obvious that even a freshman at Signal could recognize it. He kept his bad arm limp, and favored his good side, waiting for her strike.

Fortunately for him, she took the bait and made a lung at his exposed side. He twisted his body painfully to the side and gripped her arm with his burnt hand, pain filling his senses as the wound became agitated.

He seemed to catch her off guard with the move, and took advantage of it by slamming his forehead into her own. He ignored the pain and followed up his headbutt with a quick jab from his mace. Using the same tactic Russel had used with the boy, he made more and more quick jabs, sacrificing his power with speed.

He finally brought his mace to bear and slammed it into her chest with a swing, activating the dust crystal at the tip. The explosion sent her rolling on the ground and into the tree, a buzzing occurring a second later to signify her aura dropping. He checked the screen and saw that her aura had just barely dropped into the red territory, while a second later Dove's opponent's picture faded and another buzz sounded.

He smiled as the crowd cheered the end of the battle, raising a fist in victory. He hooked his mace onto his belt and made his way over to the girl, holding out his good hand for her. She managed to make it onto her knees and took his hand. Hoisting her up, he let dropped his grip and patted her on the shoulder.

"Nice work with that whip, by the way. Gave my arm a good burn." They made their way off the field, he nursing his wound and she holding an arm on her stomach.

"You and your teammate had some good hits on Samuel back there. I've never seen him be pushed back that long before." Cardin gave a small shrug.

"That's Rus for you. That tree hurt like a bitch by the way," he responded. She chuckled softly.

"I can say the same." She sighed a little at that, holding her broken whip.

"It's going to cost quite a few pennies to fix this though," she said sadly. He rubbed his head nervously at her tone.

"Sorry about that."

"Eh, it'll be okay. Atlas'll pay for any repairs caused by the tournament." The got off the fighting stage and entered the stadium, with Dove appearing a short while later. Cardin nodded to him and made his way with him. He stopped himself though, and turned back to the girl, holding out his hand.

"I'm Cardin, by the way. I didn't have a chance to learn your team name," he said sheepishly. She looked a little stunned, but gripped his hand and shook it.

"Lavender," she replied.

"It's been a good fight," he said, a smile on his face. She smiled too, and Cardin gave a single wave as he and Dove made their way to the stadium infirmary.

* * *

 _16 Days after The Breach, Amity Coliseum, Vale_

Shirou sat on the roof of the coliseum, one leg hanging off of the side of the roof, watching as festival goers went to and from their seats, taking advantage of the thirty minute break periods in between the fights. His eyes followed his master as he helped up the girl who had nearly beaten him a minute prior.

He was both proud and glad for his master, proud for them winning and glad that he was able to help up those he fought. He knew a little of the plight his master faced with his peers, and seeing them work together and win in the first round of the tournament would doubtlessly help their standing at the school.

He turned his attention back to the crowd of people, sifting through the mass of bodies. The one benefit to having this many people in one spot was that they were all stuck in place for quite a while, giving him ample time to search them for command seals.

There wasn't any sign of Lancer or her master, giving him some relief. But he hadn't found much evidence of any master being at the stadium, aside from one.

The white-haired girl sitting with three other girls. The resemblance to Lancer's master was obvious and enough to warrant his suspicion. She was undoubtedly related to her, not even his own luck skill could make an improbability like that. Her bandaged hand being the correct hand for command seals, along with the faint red symbols bleeding through it, sealed the deal. He only hoped she would be able to listen first, rather than fight at first sight.

What was also curious was the blacked-haired girl next to her with a similar bandage. It _was_ possible both of them could be masters, but better to be safe than sorry,

 _Master, I think I found two possible masters at the tournament._

 _Two?_ He heard his master respond incredulously.

 _Yes. One looks very close to Lancer's master, and the other is wearing a red cape. Do you know them?_ He heard his master sigh.

 _Shit. Yeah, I do. Weiss is the white-haired one, and that probably means Lancer's master is her sister if they look that similar. And the girl in the cape is Ruby._ Shirou mulled over this new info as he watched the four get up from their seats and exit the stadium.

 _Think they'll be willing to talk?_

 _Maybe. Ruby probably will, she wants to be a hero, like, uh...you, I guess. Weiss on other hand…_

 _Well, let's just say that she was a stuck up snob when she got here, and she's gotten only slightly better._ Shirou picked himself up from the roof and went into his astral form, making his way down to the floor level.

 _It's probably best to confront them tonight then. At the very least we'd be able to find out who their is. Most everyone has cleared out from the stadium. I'll make my way to you and head back up when the next match starts._

 _Got it._ Shirou continued on his way to his master, formulating strategies for dealing with the two could be masters. He internally sighed at the prospect of a fight between the three students, but quietly made his way to his master's side, ready to protect him from any threat.

* * *

 _16 Days after The Breach, Vytal Festival grounds, Vale_

"I can beat anyone of you pransy hunters with a broken arm and one eye!" Carmine watched the commotion his servant was causing with amusement as his servant riled up more and more people.

It was close to nightfall, and once the matches at the coliseum were over everybody went to the festival grounds, where entertainment, food and amusements of all kinds were gathered. He could get fish from Mistral, weapons from Atlas, literature from Vacuo and trinkets directly from Vale at these grounds, and every festival was packed with tourists and merry goers at all times.

It would even be safe to say that every night for three weeks a whole new city sprang up from the festival grounds. Currently though, he and his servant had gone to the more adult section of the festival, with bars and other stands being set up for both huntsman and citizens alike. It'd taken only a couple of drinks before Saber had gone to the nearest gathering of huntsman and challenged them to a brawl.

"The hell're you talking about? You don't look like you could take on a beowolf, let alone three huntsmen," said one man, his voice slightly slurred. The scarred woman next to him snorted and sipped her drink, paying more attention to the bar television than to the conversation.

Another man in a nice suit listened in on their conversation, drink waiting in between his hands. He leaned next to Carmine, a hand covering his mouth.

"Your friend is quite the hunter, it seems," he commented quietly. Carmine nodded, taking another sip of his drink as the two men proceeded to try and out do the other in showing their many scars.

"Yeah, he's been like this for as long as I can remember."

 _Which has been for less than a week._ The suited man didn't say anything after that, backing away from Carmine and was content to watch Saber and the hunter continue their argument. The woman looked over at Carmine, and he mentally smirked a little as he saw her eyes widen slightly. She shoved her friend on the shoulder, breaking his concentration and pointed over at him.

"You know who that is, right? He's the Phoenix of Vacuo." Her friend sobered slightly at that, suddenly getting sheepish around him, while Saber gave him a blank stare.

"The what?" he questioned evenly.

"It's a nickname people gave me, on account of the fact I'm really hard to kill," he responded calmly. He didn't mind the name much, and he had to admit, he was kind of glad that a lot of huntsmen knew about him. Saber clapped him on the shoulder and his grasp on his drink slipped, alcohol going over the side of the cup.

"Ha! I knew it, someday you'll be a hero like me master!" He was glad the other huntsmen were too engrossed with his presence to notice Saber's slip of the tongue; Vacuo was the most progressive of the four kingdoms when it came to civic laws, disbanding slavery decades before the other kingdoms.

"Wow, this is uh...this is pretty amazing," the hunter said. The suited man coughed politely, pointing a questioning finger to Carmine.

"Extraordinary as this is, why are you in Vale? The festival is one thing, but the matches between graduated huntsmen doesn't start for a week."

"I got called in as a proctor, make sure those kids don't kill each other on accident." He shrugged his shoulders nonchalantly.

"You know how it is, hormones and everything." Saber made a move to his cup when his hand stilled. He turned his head to look behind him and Carmine followed his gaze. A black-haired girl in the uniform of a Haven academy student was nearby, browsing through the other booths. The question rising through his throat died as his servant spoke up.

"Master," he near whispered. He moved away from the table and made his way to the girl. Carmine excused himself, much to the dismay of his companions, and quickly caught up with Saber.

"Is she a master?" he asked quietly. The girl hadn't noticed them so far, but in the time it took for him to catch Saber, another black-haired woman, older and in metal armor, stood next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Saber nodded, muscles tensing.

"Shit, too many people around. Think of any way to bring this fight to the woods?" he questioned. Saber said nothing, but changed course to a section of the forest that lead away from the grounds. Carmine gave a small sigh of relief, but quickly prepared himself for a fight, a hand on the longsword at his waist.

At this point both of the women had seen them, and the younger girl had similar thoughts to his own. Once safely in the forest, the only light they had was from the full moon, partly shattered as it went through it's cycle. Saber had materialized his mail armour, leather gauntlets and greaves appearing a moment later.

A sword appeared in his hand, a slight shimmer of flames dancing on along the blade. The other servant smirked confidently, an armored warhorse appearing alongside her. Carmine tightened his hold on the sword as he drew it from the sheath and prepared himself for battle.

In an instant Saber and the other servant, undoubtedly Rider, disappeared from view. Before he could blink, both reappeared, dirt and earth rising around them as the ground shook from their clash.

The second battle had commenced.

* * *

 _16 Days after The Breach, Forever Fall forest, Vale_

Cardin paced around the tree he and Archer were waiting at, forming a small dirt path as he revolved around the tree for what seemed like the hundredth time.

Archer had remained quiet for most of the time they were out here, aside from informing Cardin of lone Grimm wandering the forest, quickly followed by a single speck of red shooting through the air.

Eventually though Archer broke the silence, sitting down on a branch just above Cardin's head.

"So, these other masters. Tell me about them."

"Why?"

"Might help me anticipate their actions," he replied shrugging his shoulders. He then rubbed his head awkwardly, a sheepish look adorning his face.

"Also, I'm kind of bored." Cardin sighed, but welcomed the distraction.

 _More time spent talking is less time being nervous._

"Well, Red's an energetic person. She'll probably not even try to hide any type of secret plan, if there's even one."

"So, she's an honorable sort then." Cardin leaned against the tree and shrugged his shoulder slightly.

"More like a naive sort. But, she's real good with her scythe, seeing as she's two years younger than the first-years." Archer raised a brow at that.

"Two years? She must be a prodigy, then. What about the other one?"

"Weiss Schnee, which would make her sister Winter Schnee, who we think is Lancer's master. I wouldn't put it past her to try to have us do some dirty work for her, but I doubt she'd try and fight us without talking first." Archer hummed softly, mulling over the information.

"So, a young, idealistic prodigy along with a deceitful heiress who could possibly be working with another master, who happens to be her sister." Archer leaned back, sighing softly.

"The Grail wars always were interesting," he muttered. Cardin shook his head, frowning.

"I doubt schnee would work with her sister. When I was talking with Red in the hospital she mentioned that their team was getting called in by her family, and Schnee wasn't happy, to put it lightly."

"Still, it's a possibility," Archer said evenly. The two remained silent for some time, and Cardin grew restless once more. His message to Ruby had said to meet him with Weiss in the forest after dark at this spot, and he'd been waiting for nearly an hour now.

As he began to pace once more, Archer lifted his gaze and let out a low whistle, getting Cardin's attention.

 _It seems like they're here. What's the plan of action?_

 _I'll try and talk to them first, find out if they're masters. Stay invisible for now, if they are masters then it might keep this from escalating._

 _As you wish._ At that Archer dematerialized, leaving Cardin alone. He was in his uniform, jacket unbuttoned and his mace hidden behind the tree. He knew that alone he couldn't win against either of them one on one, and both was suicide, but hopefully Archer could cause a big enough distraction to give him time to escape, if things got messy.

The two came up to him, standing away from the tree, both in their uniforms as well. It didn't go unnoticed to Cardin that they had weapons at their hips.

Undeterred, he raised a hand in greeting.

"Hey Red, glad to see you've got my message." Ruby nodded nervously, giving a wave to him. He turned his attention to Weiss.

"Schnee."

"Winchester." She took a look around them, crossing her arms and walked around in a small circle.

"So, what did you want to talk about? It's getting late," she snapped. Cardin leaned against the tree and put on a relaxed demeanor.

"Expecting trouble?" he said, nodding his head towards their weapons. Weiss huffed, visibly getting irritated.

"We're in the middle of a forest infested with Grimm, at night. Why wouldn't we bring weapons?" He raised his hands in defeat.

"Just curious is all. I mean, only a few Grimm species are known to be nocturnal, none of which live in the forest." Weiss began to speak, but he cut her off before she had a chance.

"I actually listened to Port during that lesson, so don't try to debate it. And the amount of Grimm active at night is so miniscule and spread out that given how I've been here for nearly an hour and left untouched, makes me wonder why you felt the need to bring weapons." He got up from his position and moved towards them.

"Ruby's fast enough to speed both of you away from anything in this forest, so you don't need to fight." Weiss had gone quiet, and Ruby awkwardly stood nearby, uncertain of what to do.

"I'll ask again; _Why_ do you have weapons?" When she didn't respond, he raised his hand and showed them his seals.

"Might it have anything to do with these?" He saw both of their eyes widen in shock, and gave himself a self-satisfying smirk. It was short-lived however, as he narrowly dodged a quick swipe from Weiss's rapier, keeping his body close to the tree trunk.

"Weiss! What're you doing?"

"Come on Ruby, he has the seals! You heard what Caster said, he's going to try and fight us." Cardin raised both of his hands in front of him, slowly backing up to his mace.

 _Hold on Archer, I think i can salvage this._

 _Not a smart move master, but alright._

 _Thanks._

"Woah now, I don't want to fight! That's why I asked you both out here. Am I right to think Ruby is a master." Weiss didn't say anything, holding her rapier at the ready, but nodded.

"Alright, can we put our weapons down? We don't need to resort to violence."

"Come on Weiss. He doesn't want to fight, and we don't want to fight." Weiss looked over to Ruby, who had one hand on her weapon arm. She kept her gaze for a few more seconds before looking away, closing her eyes and sighing.

"Fine. But talk quickly, before I change your mind." He lowered his hands and straightened, visibly relaxing himself.

"As you know, we're in the middle of a war, one we can't leave until it's conclusion is reached. Since we are all students at Beacon, I was thinking we form an alliance," he said.

"At least until we're the only ones left standing. After that, I don't know. I guess we can see in time."

"And if we refuse this alliance?"

"Then I guess we're enemies, though I don't want to fight you just now." Weiss looked back to Ruby, and then back to him. The silence that filled the air was deafening, and Cardin began to sweat slightly despite the cold night air. He inched his hand closer to the handle of his weapon.

Finally, Weiss sheathed her weapon, albeit reluctantly.

"Fine, we accept. I guess it would be best to show our servants then. Ruby, you first." Ruby sprung up in surprise at the mention of her name.

"Oh! Uh, yeah, my servant...Assassin, please." A man shimmered into existence behind Ruby, wrapped in a black cloak, shadows disguising all of his features aside from two bright spots of light that Cardin could only guess was supposed to be eyes.

"And now, mine. Caster, if you please." A woman appeared aside Weiss, and Cardin jumped in surprise at the noise of surprise his servant made. Caster seemed to notice this, and raised an eyebrow at him.

Archer materialised behind him, a look of shock filling his face. Caster herself was in shock too, and the pair stayed like that for moments, to the surprise and concern of their masters. Archer broke the silence, his voice sounding like a horn in the silence.

"Rin?"

* * *

A/N: Hey there guys, here's chapter six. I wanted to start off the chapter with a fight in the tournament mainly because it would make for good story, but also because it'd be kind of fun to write both Cardin and Russel, as well as random characters fighting with weird weapons. I was originally going to have the Saber v Rider fight in the chapter, but I decided to save it for next chapter, so that I could make it more on the forefront. I enjoyed writing the clandestine meeting between the three masters, and I'm going to enjoy writing the meeting between Rin and Shirou.

As always please review, every review helps me write the story and improve my writing style.

Thank you and have a nice day.

-Collaredblock4

Words: 5,750

Pages: 14


	7. Chapter 7: The Swordsman and the General

Chapter 7: The Swordsman and the General

 _16 Days after The Breach, edge of Vytal Festival grounds, Vale_

Marshall Pembroke, summoned into the Holy Grail War as the Saber-class servant, stared down his mounted opponent. Scale armor covered her torso, and a laurel wreath crowned her head. The ground surrounding them was pockmarked with deep depressions and craters from their repeated strikes, and a light amount of dust hung in the air.

He shifted his grip on his weapon as Rider's warhorse brought itself to a stop. A long, simple spear the length of a lance was in her hand, and she had a short sword at her waist. She brought her horse around to face him and lowered her spear, the point shining with the influx of aura.

"Hyah!" The scream entered the air as she kicked her stirrups, the warhorse moving at an incredible pace despite its size. He prepared himself, waiting until the spear was less than two feet away. When it was, he angled his sword to catch the tip with his crossguard and the blade pointing directly at Rider's heart.

He took a step backwards in surprise as the spear point glanced off his crossguard, moving his sword in a different direction as she rode past. He heard a clash of metal as he regained his bearing, looking back to see Rider clutch at her shoulder.

Satisfaction filled him as he checked his blade, small metal scales lying at his feet. The blow was stronger than he anticipated, but he knew his strength stat would be enough to tip the odds in his favor. Riders weren't known for the strength, and as long as he whittled down her mount's health he would eventually force her to fight on foot.

It seemed that their masters had begun a fight of their own. He heard sounds of metal clashing and small explosions further on in the treeline. He didn't worry for his master though; Being an experienced hunter, he surely could be able to handle a huntress in training.

That aside, he wasn't able to miss an opportunity to chat with an opponent.

"So, Rider. Would it be too much to assume you'll gift me the knowledge of your identity?" Rider turned around to face him, hand off her shoulder. No blood, he noticed glumly.

"I thought it to be obvious, Saber. If you don't know me by now, then I shan't tell you." He gave a small pout at that.

"No jest? Surely our identities don't matter in these forms."

"Why give away valuable information when it can be prevented?" He put a hand on his hip and rested his blade on his shoulder and let his stance relaxen.

"It's disrespectful is what it is. We've both gained our place on the Throne through our actions, so why hide it? Your identity will be learned in due time, so you might as well reveal yourself now." Rider shook her head, her face remaining blank.

"I've always done what it takes to save mankind, why should I worry over hurt feelings? The respectful soldier will lose to the pragmatic soldier, given time." Saber shrugged slightly at her words, remaining calm.

"Then it's good I'm not a soldier then," he remarked. Rider curled her nose in distaste at his words.

"A brigand then? If so, your skills must be great indeed to be worthy of a heroic spirit."

"I'm _not_ a brigand," he replied crossly. He brought the blade away from his shoulder and pointed it towards her.

"I'm Marshall Pembroke, first guardian of Vale and protector of the Novicii." Rider's expression became more disgusted.

"The Novicii? Then you truly are a barbarian," she sneered. He said nothing, only calmly letting out a breath. He brought up his sword to a guard position and waited for her next pass. Bringing her horse around to face him, she mockingly lifted her spear in a taunt, and rode her steed towards him.

As she approached, three spectral riders in similar equipment appeared alongside her. They lowered their lances in unison and formed a single line, as if to hit him with their lances one after another.

"Adamant Shade!" With that, Rider increased her speed. Saber deflected the first shade's lance with his crossguard and slashed quickly at its armor. The shade fell from its saddle and disappeared. He brought his sword low to the ground and swiped at the second shade's horse, which crashed into the ground and also disappeared.

The third shade decided to change tactics and instead threw his lance forward. Saber deftly dodged it and looked up in time to see the shade draw his short sword. Taking action, he leaped forward and impaled his sword into the shade's stomach. Rolling into the fall from dehorsing his foe, he made a stabbing motion with his sword.

"Inferno Drift!" He roared. A thin beam of light came from the tip of his sword, forming a straight line towards Rider. The beam expanded, with flames violently erupting to form a an explosive cylinder of heat. Rider saw the flames, and instead broke her charge, quickly dematerializing.

The flames moved past where she was, scorching the ground and the vegetation around and behind where she once was. Saber paused and knelt where he was, taking a moment to get his breath back. Rider rematerialized to where she was when her charge first started, remaining mounted on her horse.

"Hmph. A barbarian though you may be, you certainly don't lack for strength," she remarked casually. Saber let out a small snort.

"You Romisians just don't know when to admit us 'barbarians' are just as strong as you, do you?"

"Perhaps. Your performance tonight was quite entertaining, I'll admit. And truth be told, I never put much stock into the empire's teachings of northerners." She paused, brushing off a miniscule piece of dirt from her shoulder.

"Much too arrogant for my tastes." Saber felt his breathing go back to normal and stood up, twirling his sword slightly.

"Was it now? I'm impressed," he said sarcastically. Rider brought herself down from her mount, her lance and horse dematerializing into the air. She wielded only her sword now, but remained relaxed.

"Oh, I'm honored that you would deign to let a mere barbarian such as myself be on the same ground as you," he said snarkily, giving a mock bow. Rider put a hand on her hip, her expression souring slightly.

"Watch yourself, Saber. You're better than your associates, I'll grant you, but there's a limit to the insolence I'll tolerate," she replied. He grinned at that, bringing his sword up.

"Good, I'll take pleasure in bringing you down a peg." The two began to circle one another when a large boom was heard in the distance. Saber kept his sword up, but took a moment to look over to where the sound originated. A small fire had sprouted in the trees, and the faint sound of gunfire filled the air.

"Well, sorry to cut our match short Saber, but it appears my master is need of rescuing." The blonde quickly brought his attention back to Rider. Her sword had already disappeared, and her back was turned. Not wanting to miss the opportunity, he leapt forward and slashed diagonally with his sword.

Nothing. His sword continued its path unhindered through the air, Rider vanishing at the last moment. He grunted softly, sticking his sword in the ground.

"Damn," he muttered quietly. He picked his sword up from the ground and jogged over to the fire. If he was lucky he would be able to catch Rider and her master in time. When he made it there, however, the only person there was his master, who was leaning against a tree.

The fire had died down to the size of a small campfire, and multiple trees had bullet holes or were mangled. His master slid down to sit at the base of the tree, and Saber sat himself down next to him. Carmine looked over to him.

"Hey Saber. How'd the fight go?" Saber shrugged.

"Alright. I know what era Rider's from, and what one of her noble phantasms is." Carmine nodded slightly, shifting his body into a better position. Saber looked him over once for injuries, but found none.

"Tired?" He questioned. Carmine nodded again.

"Yeah, it's hard to fight a huntress in training while trying not to kill them. At least when they're trying to kill you too," he yawned.

"What's her noble phantasm?" he questioned after a minute.

"It seems to be able to summon shades, probably very low servant quality if I had to guess. They're outfitted in similar equipment as her, so it's a good bet she was some type of military commander in life."

"Oh. That's a start, right?"

"Mhm." Saber stood up and pulled Carmine to his feet.

"Come on, let's go back to town, it'll be dark yet." Saber started walking back towards the fair grounds, his master not far behind.

* * *

 _16 Days after The Breach, Vytal Festival grounds, Vale_

Rider watched her surroundings intently as her master lay in her arms, her noble phantasm speeding up her aura's healing process. The fatal damage was minimal, but the damage her body received was extensive.

Multiple broken bones, fractured ribs, and many cuts from a bladed weapon. She cradled her master in her arms as she prepared to move again, keeping an eye out for Saber and any other Servants that might make their way over to the battle site.

In truth, she doubted any would appear. They were quite aways from Vale proper, and the only Servants who she thought would be able to track her was Caster and Assassin. Assassin would be trouble, but nothing her Adamant Shade couldn't hold off for her to escape. And Caster would most likely be too weak to handle a face to face fight with most servants.

Her attention was brought back to her master as she stirred slightly.

"Rider?" She croaked.

"Yes?"

"Where are we?"

"Near the edge of Vale. I'll bring you back to your team, but in the meantime keep resting. My noble phantasm works best when one isn't straining themselves." She nodded weakly and silence overcame the pair again. Rider continued to hop around the forest, slowly making her way back to Beacon, where the rest of competitors were staying.

It continued like this for a half-hour, and in that half-hour Rider found her thoughts to be drifting back towards Saber.

 _Watch yourself, Barbarian. Next we meet my lance will skewer your heart._

* * *

 _17 Days after The Breach, roof of Team CRDL's dorm, Vale_

Cardin sighed, sitting down on the edge of the roof and leaned back. He ran a hand through his hair as he thought about what had occurred nearly an hour before hand.

Two first-year students, from the same school no less, had admitted to being masters in the Grail War. Not only that, they were from the same team, with two classes that were well-suited for each-other. And to add more to the pile, his servant and one of theirs had known one another in life.

 _Archer was right, the Grail War is always interesting,_ he thought tiredly. His mind was brought back to the meeting he had with the first half of RWBY, specifically Archer's reaction to Caster. He knew her name, and by the way they talked with one another afterwards, they seemed to have known each other in life.

And what happened _afterward_ , well….

"Hey Archer, I have a question for you," he called out lightly. A few seconds passed before his Servant materialized, standing next to him.

"Hm?"

"What's the deal between you and Caster? You seem kinda...close," he managed. He was able to comprehend that the two knew each other, that was easy. But when they _kissed_ ….

He coughed into his hand. Better to just have Archer explain it. Archer sighed heavily, rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly.

"Well, the two of us knew each other when we were alive…"

"I could gather that. But I want some details, like how _exactly_ you know each other."

"She's my wife." Oh. That makes sense.

"Ok," he said dumbly. A little straightforward, but better than beating around the bush. They stayed silent for a while, Archer watching the edge of the campus grounds and Cardin staring at the night sky. Unlike Vale, Beacon had relatively few lights constantly on during the night, and was far enough away from Vale to avoid most of the light pollution.

Cardin shuffled slightly, uncomfortable in the silence that had fallen between the two. He wracked his brain for something to discuss about, and had a slight a-ha moment when he did.

"So. How did you and Caster become heroes? If you remember, that is." Archer gave a small shrug.

"Eh, I don't know the specifics, but my memory's coming back a little. Short version is that we got into trouble as usual, fought some bad guys and ended up saving the world in the process," he said casually.

"Just like that?" Cardin responded incredulously. Archer shrugged again.

"It was probably more complicated than that, but that's the gist of it. Don't remember much else." Cardin nodded, another question already in his head.

"You mentioned back in the forest that heroic spirits need to have a wish to be summoned. What's yours?" Archer took a seat next to Cardin, stretching back like him as well.

"I want to destroy the Grail. I told you before how it isn't how it appears, and if I'm going to be a heroic spirit then I might as well stop it from ruining whatever world it shows up in."

"But do you think it's always bad? I mean, it had to be good at some point," Cardin argued, if only to play Devil's advocate.

"Caster told me once that it was probably more like the stories at one point, capable of granting any wish with no strings attached, but now it's more than likely that it's corrupted. Either way, it's safer to just destroy it than to risk having curses spill out."

"Curses?"

"Ah, that's right. The Grail spits out curses instead of wishes. If it comes down to it, avoid anything that looks like dark mud, I doubt you'll be able to survive it." Archer stared off into the distance as he said that, his gaze becoming unfocused as if he was remembering something. Cardin ignored the look however, instead pestering him with more questions.

"Alright, but what about before then? What did you wish for before that?" Archer suddenly looked embarrassed, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, it might sound a little stupid to you, but I when I was younger I wanted to be a hero."

"A hero?"

"Well, a hero of justice, to be specific. I thought that if I tried hard enough I could save everyone. For years I would try my hardest to help those in need, even if it was just a small task." Cardin digested the information for a couple seconds.

"So what happened? Do you still want to be one?"

"I met someone, a Servant, during my Grail War. You could say he was my ideal in Servant form. We clashed with each other throughout the war, unable to tolerate the others presence." Cardin was puzzled by that. Wouldn't they have gotten along if they shared the same ideals?

"Why'd you two fight?"

"He pointed out the flaws in my ideals. You have to understand, I wasn't someone who wanted to save everyone, I _needed_ to save them. I couldn't handle being unable to help someone if I could do so. He pointed out the hypocrisy with my dream, how it wasn't even mine." He let out a small laugh.

"I guess he was right. It was flawed and hypocritical of me to put others before myself, but I thought, wouldn't it be great to be like that? Even if it wasn't my own, does that make it wrong to try and be a hero?" Archer continued.

"I decided then and there that I'd be a hero, even if I failed to save one person and even if I was alone, because my dream wasn't fake. It's a beautiful dream, and I'll see it through to the end." He seemed to realize that he'd go on a tangent, and became even more embarrassed.

"Sorry about that. Pretty stupid, huh?" Cardin didn't say anything, looking back up to the night sky. He thought back to the moment during the Breach, when he had the choice of leaving the two people to their deaths. It would've almost certainly lead to his death, but he did it anyway.

He hadn't really understood why he did at the time, and he just chalked it up to being a better huntsman, morally at least, but now he could see why.

He wanted to be a hero, or at least strive to be like one. He didn't care if the others at Beacon didn't believe him to be changed, he'll keep on trying all the same.

"...Yeah, it sounds kinda stupid," he said at last.

"But who cares what others think, right? All that matters is what you do. Even if you fail, you kept doing what you believed in." He turned towards Archer, a grin on his face. Archer returned the grin, and the two sat there on the roof for a while longer.

Eventually they went back to the dorm room, and Cardin flopped into his bed, ready for a night's rest.

He was not, however, ready for the images in his dreams.

 _Fire, burning everything and everyone._

 _A boy, walking alone through the destruction._

 _A man, tears in his eyes and joy on his face as he cradled the boy._

 _The same man, years later, sitting with the boy under a moonlit sky._

Cardin sat up in his bed, panting. The morning sun shone through the windows as he brought a hand to his beating heart.

 _Just who are you, Archer?_

* * *

Well, sorry for the long wait, I had to study for finals and then got sidetracked by Overwatch, which is a great game by the way. Anyway, I decided to start off with the Saber vs Rider fight and then end with some Archer and Cardin stuff. Next chapter will either be another servant fight or a tournament round, maybe both, so idk. Anyway, I'll get started on the next chapter right away and hopefully be done with it before I get swamped with other things.

Collaredblock4

Words: 3021

Pages: 8


	8. Chapter 8: The Magician & The Queen,Pt1

Chapter Eight: The Magician & the Queen Pt. 1

 _17 Days after The Breach, Beacon Academy, Vale_

"Alright, let's go over the plan one more time."

"Are you sure? We went over it less than twenty minutes ago."

"Of course I'm sure!" A small cough.

"I mean, it wouldn't hurt to review it one more time." A small sigh from the other speaker.

"Very well master." Rin Tohsaka's morning had been like this ever since she had brought up her idea to her young master in the early hours of the morning. The idea was a simple one; observe and study a Grimm specimen up close without revealing her identity to the school.

 _Or to my master,_ Rin thought quietly. It seemed both her and Shirou had the same idea when summoned, and was now caught in a bind, for their masters had no idea of their true origins. So when it came to the subject of the Grimm, she thought it best to study them as best as possible, and it just so happened for her that the school had a resident Grimm trapper in the form of a professor Port.

"Alright, you're Luviagelita Edelfelt, an unregistered huntress from Mistral that came here for the tournament. You want to study the local Grimm, but you haven't had any luck capturing a specimen, so you've decided to go visit Professor Port's current stock of Grimm."

"Hm."

"And the reason I came with you is because you found me wandering the halls yesterday."

"Mhm."

"And the reason you're unregistered is-"

"Because I'm really a dead spirit brought back to life to fight for a cup?"

"Yes. Wait, what-" Rin put a hand on Weiss's shoulder, stopping the two in the middle of the hallway. It was mostly deserted, aside from a few students intent on training for the festival. Pulling her over to the side, she kept her gentle grip on the girl.

"Relax, master. It'll be fine," she said, giving a small smile.

"After all, I, the Caster-class Servant of the Grail War, came up with this amazing and most definitely flawless plan!" She added dramatically, her arms raised in the air. Weiss just sighed, hanging her head down.

"Why did I have to be stuck with you?"

"Because you lucked out and got my catalyst," she responded snarkily. They continued on their way, Weiss leading the pair. She pulled out her scroll and opened a page, frowning in displeasure.

"Since we're on the topic of catalysts…Why did I have to buy so many jewels? I practically bankrupted my allowance for the semester."

"I told you, I need it for my work. It's my best weapon, as well as a very useful tool." Rin then pointed a finger at Weiss.

"Besides, you should count yourself lucky to have that much money. I was practically broke for most of my life trying to pay for these things." Weiss just sighed once more, shutting the scroll.

"Father's going to kill me when he sees the bill." They continued walking for a few more minutes until they came upon a door. Stopping at it, Weiss knocked lightly, and it didn't take long for someone to answer it.

"Ah, hello there Ms. Schnee! What brings you and your friend here?" The professor was...different than what she had imagined in her mind. He looked liked he could fit in with the older magus at the Clock Tower, at least when considering only outfits. But the mustache reminded her of the many portraits of older magus that dotted the halls of the Clock Tower as well. But he seemed to have an air of approachability and friendliness that many at the clock tower lacked.

"Hello professor, is it alright if we check on the Grimm you've caught? My friend here would like to look at them," Weiss said, giving him a polite smile. Port cupped his chin in his hand, mulling it over for a few seconds before stepping back and showing them in.

"Very well, as long as you don't harm them. I'm saving them for a class later today, you see, and it'd be very unfortunate if the main entertainment was harmed beforehand."

"Don't worry professor, I shan't be harming them. Not much, at least," Rin replied, holding up a hand to calm him. He merely nodded, showing them over to two cages. They were quite large, each holding a sleeping beowolf, one having more bony plates than the other.

 _Interesting,_ she mused silently. The grail had given her enough information to know what Grimm looked like, but seeing them up close was something else. She put a hand on one of the bars of the cage, observing the armor closely. Her musings were interrupted by Port clearing his throat.

"So, what exactly do you wish to do to it, miss…?"

"Edelfelt. Luviagelita Edelfelt, though Luvia will suffice. And I just wish to study the specimens here in detail." A twinge of irritation filled Rin at the mention of her rival's name.

 _I think I can even hear her damn laugh at the back of my head,_ she thought sourly. She didn't really know why she chose that name to use, but what's done is done, as they say.

"Hm, that's quite the interesting name. Vacuo?" Port questioned.

"Mistral. I'm an unregistered huntress, but I decided to visit the festival in person this year, though I haven't had the best time in finding live specimens to study." She turned her attention back to the cages.

"Are these two intact? They don't need to be, but it'd make my results more accurate." Port straightened, a glint appearing in his eye.

"Why yes they are. In fact, I have the most interesting story about these two in particular. You see, it all started with a man, a donkey and some cheese-"

"Professor, I don't think miss Edelfelt would enjoy your stories right now," Weiss interjected politely. Port's shoulders sagged slightly, but he remained upbeat. Rin backed away from the cage slightly and made a gun with her finger, not unlike a child would. She felt the mana flow easily through her circuits as the small Gandr shot formed at the tip of her finger.

The other two occupants jumped slightly at the sound of the Gandr shot firing, Rin firing at both of the caged Grimm. It only took a few seconds for the Grimm to react to the shot, their breathing eventually slowing. Rin figured that they'd have to be unconscious at this point.

"That should keep them under for about an hour, if my shots were powered correctly. Am I allowed to open the cages?"

"Only if you can guarantee they're indeed unresponsive. I'd rather not have to deal with these two before class," Port replied. She tapped one with her foot, and after having no response, Port opened the cages. Rin knelt down to the less armored one first and examined it.

 _Bone plating covering different parts of the body, black fur, large size._ With the basics out of the way, she decided to move on to studying the anatomy of the Grimm. She learned from Weiss that previous attempts at studying the biology of Grimm had been fruitless, primarily due to the bodies disintegrating early on into the dissection.

Fortunately for her, she had magecraft.

While her projection was pitiful compared to Shirou's tracing, she was more than adept at reading the structures of both objects and creatures. She put her hand on the Grimm and began to analyze its body. She heard Weiss let out a small gasp as her magic circuits came to life and appeared on her arms.

"Well, it seems you've made quite the interesting associate Ms. Schnee," Port remarked.

"A side effect of my semblance, it's nothing to worry about," Rin reassured them. She maintained her focus on the Grimm, and continued her examination. The first thing she noticed was that the Grimm was different from other animals, and even different from humans.

 _A spiritual core?_ She thought.

 _That might fit a Servant better, but an animal? Curious._ If the Grimm had a spiritual core then it must have something to channel the prana the cores store. She began to search for anything resembling magic circuits or any other way to channel prana, but grunted in frustration as she found none. Changing tactics, she sent out a small burst of prana into the Grimm.

It shifted slightly but otherwise stayed motionless. Rin followed the progress of the prana as instead of following any predetermined path through the Grimm it instead quickly disappeared, as if it was absorbed.

 _So, no circuits but insteads absorbs any prana it comes into contact with, like a vacuum. Troublesome._

But it wasn't entirely bad news; after all, her Gandr shots worked fine on the Grimm.

 _Maybe curses aren't affected? I'll have to follow this up later._

She stood up from the Grimm and moved to the other Grimm, analyzing it in the same fashion. As she was doing so, Port decided it was time to begin questioning her and her master.

"So Ms. Edelfelt, you said you were an unregistered huntress, correct?" Rin looked away from the Grimm to Port.

"...Yes," she answered warily. She got the feeling she wouldn't like where this conversation was headed. Port only continued to stroke his chin in thought.

"And like I said, call me Luvia."

"So who taught you your skills, Luvia? It seems like you've been trained by a professional."

"Well, my teacher was far from being a being a huntsman, but I had more than one teacher when it comes to combat." This intrigued Port, who brought his gaze fully onto her and away from the Grimm. Weiss seemed to be interested as well, if her intense gaze was anything to go by.

"Really?" Port said, excitement in his voice. Rin nodded.

"Yep. My first teacher was my father, who taught me how to handle my semblance, but he died when I was young." Weiss's gaze seemed to drop at that, and Port gave her an understanding look.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Luvia. But you mentioned he was your first teacher. How many did you have?"

"Well, my second teacher was a family friend who ran a local church. Though he wasn't much of a priest."

 _Or a 'friend' for that matter…_

"But he taught me how to fight with my hands and feet and gave me more training with my semblance," she finished. Port nodded, enraptured with her story. Weiss was in a similar state to Port.

"And I guess I could count El-Melloi II, but all he did was help refine my technique. My final teacher was an old hermit who kept moving from place to place. He taught me many new ways to use my semblance, and many other tricks with my aura."

"A hermit, you say? Did you happen to learn his semblance by chance?" Port questioned. Rin debated on answering the question truthfully. It would be hard to explain, but on the other hand, what harm could come of it?

"I did. He was able to draw energy and even objects from other worlds, so to speak." Ports eyebrows rose considerably.

"Really?"

"Mhm. It wouldn't be incorrect to imagine him grabbing a sword or other objects from another plane. Though once my training was done I wasn't able to see him as often. I'm usually only able receive the occasional message from time to time." Port's eyebrows drooped, and he seemed to have lost his previous excitement.

"Oh. That's a shame, I would have liked to meet your teacher. From what you've told me he sounds like a magician!" Rin had to put a hand to her mouth to stop herself from laughing.

 _If only you knew how right you are,_ she thought. A mischievous grin crossed her face as a new idea came to her.

"I guess you could say I'm a magician as well," she said casually, the grin still on her face.

* * *

Somewhere else, Zelretch coughed.

* * *

"I believe it would be appropriate, Luvia. Though can you tell me more of- Oh, Barty!" Port went over to the door to talk with the new arrival, a man with spiky green hair. Rin ignored the pair and went back to work on the second Grimm.

This Grimm was different than the other one. Unlike the first one it didn't have any spiritual cores, but instead seemed to have a system of transporting the prana it came into contact with. Rin analyzed the structure again, looking more closely at the faint trails of prana that she sent.

 _Well that's new_ , she thought in surprise. The Grimm appeared to have a primitive form of magic circuits running through it, albeit relatively few and degraded circuits. She counted 8 complete circuits inside the Grimm, and if she had to guess it could hold around 6 units of prana, if that.

But something seemed off with the circuits, like they were imperfect or damaged. She also counted 5 incomplete circuits, circuits that just cut off at one point, not leaving behind a trail. To add to it, a field of prana surrounded it, being drawn to the incomplete circuits inside the Grimm. What prana was inside the Grimm seemed to gravitate towards its organs and muscles, seemingly acting like a permanently active strengthening spell.

 _Modified circuits aren't unheard of, but in an animal? Something's really off here._

"Weiss, do you mind giving me your hand for a moment?"

"Sure," Weiss responded. Rin took her hand with her free one and sent a some prana through it. Weiss yelped at the shock, and Rin gave her an apologetic smile but went back to following the prana.

 _Practically identical in structure, though Weiss's circuits are more numerous and much more developed._

And it was easily apparent to any magus worth their salt. Weiss had 22 complete magic circuits, 9 incomplete circuits and all of them could hold around 25 units of prana. A similar 'aura' of prana also surrounded her, but instead of going inward it remained outside her body, acting like a full body shield.

But Weiss's capabilities were inconsequential in the large scheme of things; what really mattered was that the structures between her and the Grimm's circuits were practically the same.

It would be highly unlikely that an animal commonly found in the wild that was hostile to humans would also have the same magic structure as well. And they are far too common to be some type of new familiar. Maybe they were a product of Gaia to deal with humanity? But humanity seemed to be close to the brink, so why keep threat when it can be recalled for another time?

 _Shirou, can you hear me?_

A moment of silence passed as she waited for Shirou to respond. They'd set up shortly after their reunion in the forest as a ways to covertly communicate between them.

 _I hear you,_ he replied.

 _I made an interesting find just now._

 _Oh?_

 _It seems these Grimm creatures and the humans here share the same circuit structure for magecraft. It looks like a mixture between our magic circuits and some kind of magic field that sucks in surrounding prana._

' _Sucks in prana'? Like Caster from our war?_

 _Sort of. She didn't have magic circuits and could draw mana from the surroundings at will. This is similar, but is an unconscious action. For the Grimm it looks like it acts as an always-on reinforcement spell, but I bet the aura the people here have is the prana in the air turned into a protective forcefield of sorts._

 _It would explain why my sword bounced off of Lancer when I was summoned…_

Rin nodded in agreement, though Shirou couldn't see her.

 _I checked Weiss and she has the same structure as the Grimm, though much more developed. Did you detect anything from your master?_

 _I can't say for sure, I was preoccupied with healing him at the time. Though I do remember a trace of some magic circuits. It's probably something you have to look for in these humans._

 _And I bet the magic circuits are to explain for their 'semblances'. It's just their origin and elemental affinities interacting with one another, although it seems the Schnee's are the only ones with anything close to resembling a magic crest, given their family reputation,_ Rin replied.

 _But it's odd that they'd have both magic circuits and a way to channel surrounding prana. Why do they have both?_ he questioned.

 _I have a theory on that. Possibly at some point humanity was in a similar state as our world, and the Gaia here made a counter response, the Grimm. Based on the local legends and their reputation, they sound like a similar creation as Primate Murder._

 _But humanity here looks to be near extinction,_ he countered.

 _Well then maybe something happened. Maybe they broke free from Gaia's control, or they overwent their parameters and Gaia couldn't stop them. If the Grimm were wantonly killing the remaining humans..._

 _...Then Gaia would have had to step in to save what's left of humanity,_ Shirou finished. Rin hummed in agreement.

 _And having a forcefield to protect oneself from harm and having unique semblances sounds like a good way to keep people alive. I believe that Gaia had some hand in forcibly changing the humans here, but I have to admit, having the backing of Gaia isn't so bad._

 _I know what you mean, it seems like my projections can last for weeks,_ Shirou replied. Rin's attention was brought to Weiss as the girl coughed lightly.

"Can you let go of my hand please?" She asked quietly. Port and the other man were still at the door talking and otherwise being oblivious to the pair in the room. Rin let go of her master's hand and apologized. To Weiss, she must have been holding her hand in vice grip for nearly half a minute at that rate.

 _Shirou, we should talk later, perhaps at breakfast in the cafeteria. Can you get your master there?_

 _Of course, it's not like they eat out. I'll talk to you later._

At that the line was cut, silence filling the mental link. Rin looked back at Weiss and stood up from her crouched position.

"We should probably get going Weiss. Your team is bound to wake up soon," she said. She motioned for Weiss to follow her, who did so without vocalizing any complaint. Rin politely nudged her way through the two men at the door, giving a quick farewell to Port, and the master and servant pair walked through the school halls.

The silence didn't last long however, with Rin deciding to break the silence.

"Say master, you don't have any plans this morning, right?"

"Not really, why?" Weiss's gaze turned curious as she stared at her servant from the corner of her eye.

"I'd suggest meeting up with your partners in crime and discuss what our little alliance is going to do in this war."

"Sounds like a plan," she agreed.

* * *

Hey there, I'm not dead! Yay! I've been busy with work for the past two months and a small amount of writers block, so I decided to just split this into two parts to make it slightly more manageable and to make it easier to focus on the writing of the chapter. Hopefully the next part will be up soon.

-Collaredblock4

Words: 3,190

Pages: 8


End file.
